{"id":1805,"date":"2025-01-05T21:13:49","date_gmt":"2025-01-05T18:13:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/planeta21vek.ru\/eng\/?p=1805"},"modified":"2025-11-20T12:38:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T09:38:09","slug":"thousands-of-birds-killed-by-fuel-oil-spill-in-kerch-strait","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planeta21vek.ru\/eng\/2025\/01\/05\/thousands-of-birds-killed-by-fuel-oil-spill-in-kerch-strait\/","title":{"rendered":"Thousands of birds killed by fuel oil spill in Kerch Strait"},"content":{"rendered":"

The number of dead and injured birds is estimated at first thousands. Heroic volunteers, veterinarians, and volunteer assistants washed more than 2,000 birds from fuel oil. Environmentalists are not ready to confirm the facts of dolphin deaths from fuel oil pollution, although isolated cases have been discovered in recent days. But the birds rescued after the oil spill died after they were released into the wild. Volunteers believe that the birds should not have been released, since their fat layer was washed away and their thermoregulation was disrupted, so they needed to undergo rehabilitation.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Andrey Nagibin, Chairman of the Board of the All-Russian public organization “Green Patrol”, Head of the “Clean Arctic” project, co-chairman of the “GREEN” party:<\/span><\/p>\n

“It’s a disaster, there’s no other way to describe it, what happened in the Kerch Strait and on the Taman and Anapa shores. The accident with a fuel oil spill into the sea happened on the morning of December 15, a young guy, a motorman, died. By the night of December 17, fuel oil began to wash up on the shores in the area of \u200b\u200bVeselovka (Temryuk district, Krasnodar region), Blagoveshchenka, Vityazevo, and in Anapa itself. In the area of \u200b\u200bUtrish, a federal reserve, fuel oil was discovered on the 20th.<\/span>
\nFuel oil leaking from the sunken bow of the tanker continued for several more days. The wind changed, polluting the sandy beaches of Volna. The village of Blagoveshchenskaya and Vityazevo were hit a second time. The fuel oil spill was pulled to the Crimean side, washed up on the beaches south of Kerch, and contaminated birds are being found in the city itself.<\/span>
\nBirds were the first to stir up the whole country, volunteers, and volunteer assistants. After all, during a similar accident with fuel oil in the Kerch Strait in November 2007, more than 35 thousand birds died, including those listed in the Red Book. If the fuel oil stain, which was visible on a satellite image 2 days ago, does not spread to the Taman-Zaporozhye ornithological reserve, then, I hope, we will get off easy.<\/span>
\nThe number of dead and injured birds is in the first thousands. Heroic volunteers, veterinarians, and volunteer assistants washed more than 2,000 birds from fuel oil. We are not ready to confirm the facts of dolphin deaths from fuel oil contamination, although isolated cases have been discovered in recent days. It is difficult to say whether they died earlier or from other causes, there are professionals who are currently working on this.<\/span>
\nThis tragedy has stirred up volunteers from all over the country. Thousands of people pass through headquarters in Vityazevo, Anapa, and Temryuk district every day. Among them are volunteers from leading environmental organizations: the Ecosystem Movement, Clean Arctic, and Green Patrol.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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\nPhoto: Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Crimea<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

But the birds rescued after the oil spill died after being released into the wild. Volunteers filmed a video showing the beach littered with dead birds that had been washed of oil and released into the wild, preliminarily, by order of the Ministry of Natural Resources. Volunteers believe that they should not have been released, as their fat layer had been washed off and their thermoregulation had been disrupted, so they needed to undergo rehabilitation. Earlier, news appeared that 90% of the birds rescued in Anapa died during transportation to Krasnodar for further rehabilitation. However, the operational headquarters denied the information and insisted that the percentage of dead animals is no more than 10%. The video shows footage from volunteers, as well as the release of birds into the wild.<\/span><\/p>\n