Calculating the Impact of the Oil Spill on Wildlife

On a conference call today on the Obama administration’s efforts to determine the extent of natural resources damages from the oil spill, an Interior Department official gave reporters a sense of the impact of the spill on wildlife.

Of the 8,000 oiled birds found by the government in the aftermath of the spill, just 2,000 were alive, and 1,300 of those have been released back into the wild. Of the 1,100 sea turtles found covered in oil, 535 were found alive, and 360 have been released back into the wild.