Oil Spills & the Animals

Penguin caught in an oil spill

Oil can cause a lot of damage to both animals and the ecosystem. In this picture it is of a penguin that was caught into an oil spill and a person is trying to clean and take all the oil off the bird. Oil can damage all the animals by the weight of the liquid can bring the animals down, for example ducks and birds when they go for a swim and they swim around in the oil. When they go to take off and fly to the land the oil can make it much harder to flap their wings and can get taken under the water struggling to get back up. Oil damages the beaches and the oceans. The oil toxins the fish and sea creatures which can contaminate them and poison them. Oil spills can also cause problems to jobs like fish and shrimp industries because the oil can kill them. Without any shrimp/fish it puts the businesses out of business. If you worked in a fish/ shrimp industry you could see how it would put you out of business and then cause your family to suffer because you would not have money for food, shelter or hydro. That would be a horrible thing to go through.

~Rebecca