July 14, 2010
Animal Autopsies in Gulf Yield a Mystery
By SHAILA DEWAN
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Kemp’s ridley sea turtle lay belly-up on the metal
autopsy table, as pallid as split-pea soup but for the bright orange X
spray-painted on its shell, proof that it had been counted as part of the Gulf
of Mexico’s continuing “unusual mortality event.”
Under the practiced knife of Dr. Brian Stacy, a veterinary pathologist who
estimates that he has dissected close to 1,000 turtles over the course of his
career, the specimen began to reveal its secrets: First, as the breastplate was
lifted away, a mass of shriveled organs in the puddle of stinking red liquid
that is produced as decomposition advances. Next, the fat reserves indicating
good health. Then, as Dr. Stacy sliced open the esophagus, the most revealing
clue: a morsel of shrimp, the last thing the turtle ate.
“You don’t see shrimp consumed as part of the normal diet” of Kemp’s ridleys,
Dr. Stacy said.
This turtle, found floating in the Mississippi Sound on June 18, is one of
hundreds of dead creatures collected along the Gulf Coast since the Deepwater
Horizon oil rig exploded. Swabbed for oil, tagged and wrapped in plastic “body
bags” sealed with evidence tape, the carcasses — many times the number normally
found at this time of year — are piling up in freezer trucks stationed along the
coast, waiting for scientists like Dr. Stacy, who works for the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration, to begin the process of determining what killed
them.
Despite an obvious suspect, oil, the answer is far from clear. The vast majority
of the dead animals that have been found — 1,866 birds, 463 turtles, 59 dolphins
and one sperm whale — show no visible signs of oil contamination. Much of the
evidence in the turtle cases points, in fact, to shrimping or other commercial
fishing, but other suspects include oil fumes, oiled food, the dispersants used
to break up the oil or even disease.
The efforts to finger a culprit — or culprits — amount to a vast investigation
the likes of which “CSI” has never seen. The trail of evidence leads from marine
patrols in Mississippi, where more than half the dead turtles have been found,
to a toxicology lab in Lubbock, Tex., to this animal autopsy room at the
University of Florida in Gainesville. And instead of the fingerprint analysis
and security camera video used in human homicides, the veterinary detectives are
relying on shrimp boat data recorders and chromatographic spectrum analysis that
can tell if the oil residue found in an animal has the same “chemical signature”
as BP crude.
The outcome will help determine how many millions BP will pay in civil and
criminal penalties — which are far higher for endangered animals like sea
turtles — and provide a wealth of information about the little-known effects of
oil on protected species in the Gulf.
Full story
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/15/science/earth/15necropsy.html?_r=1&th=&emc=th&pagewanted=print
or http://nyti.ms/clQLXk
