The Exxon Valdez

The Exxon Valdez oil spill happened on March 24, 1989. The ship hit a reef and about 240,000 barrels of oil spilled out into Prince William Sound. It also was collected by the rocks. By the next day, the oil had spread from 6 square miles to more than 18 square miles. By March 28, the oil had already spread more than 40 miles from the original spill. This effected more than the seas on the coast of Alaska, but it also killed a lot of marine life. Seals who licked their fur after being in the water, died because it poisoned them. Bald Eagles and other birds who swooped down into the water, were paralyzed.

When I heard about all of this dying of this, I really noticed how this affected the lives of animals. But not only animals, people too. People could have been poisoned by the salmon and mussels who had some of the toxic oil in them. Fisherman were no longer able to keep their jobs because they had no fish to fish for that would be any good for people to eat.

Other people went into debt to pay for airfare to fly up to Alaska and help rescue the animals. Even though some of the seals and sea otters were rescued, they were not able to be put back into the sea till October, 1989, when the seas were not as oily anymore.

I hope to learn more about the Exxon Valdez.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exxon_Valdez_oil_spill