Environmental Crisis: Lack of Data on Bird Deaths from Crimea Oil Spill

The annexed Crimea does not disclose information about the dead waterfowl that were sent for rehabilitation to the Taigan lion park after the environmental disaster in the Kerch Strait.

This was reported by Krym.Realii with reference to local volunteers.

Crimean volunteers involved in bird rescue are concerned that they cannot find out how many individuals survived the oil trap. They have been sending injured birds from coastal rescue centers to Taigan, but official authorities have not provided any information about their condition.

The occupying Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Crimea responds to volunteers' requests that "such data is not provided during the emergency situation". The "State Veterinary Committee", which is responsible for counting the dead animals, also refuses to disclose any information, citing an open criminal case regarding the fuel oil spill.

During a meeting in Taigan Park, attended by the heads of regional bird rescue headquarters, it was officially acknowledged that the survival rate of the rescued individuals is only about 2%. However, the exact number of dead birds remains unknown. Volunteers suspect that the scale of the environmental disaster is much more serious than the occupation authorities report.

Environmentalists emphasize that fuel oil on the birds' feathers blocks their ability to retain heat, which is why they quickly die of hypothermia. Cleaning such individuals requires special care and a large amount of resources.

Earlier, Tatiana Beley , director of the occupation's Delphi Scientific and Ecological Center for Dolphin Rescue, said that the number of dead dolphins as a result of the Volgoneft tanker accident and fuel oil spill in the Kerch Strait had reached 84.

Before that, Odesa environmentalists discovered that jellyfish poisoned by fuel oil were dying en masse on the coast of Odesa region. According to Ivan Rusev, an employee ofthe Tuzly Estuaries National Nature Park, there were 2-3 jellyfish per meter on the sand along a two-kilometer stretch of coastline, with a total of about 5,000 individuals. There were even more of them in shallow water areas, but it was not possible to count their number. The scientist suggested that the jellyfish could have consumed nanofractions of oil products along with plankton, which could have serious environmental consequences.

Meanwhile, on the coast near the village of Mykolayivka, Serhiyivka community, Odesa region, environmentalists also discovered new areas contaminated with fuel oil. On January 29, utilities in Odesa region began work to clean up the coast from oil pollution. Earlier, employees of the Tuzly Estuaries National Park found fuel oil on the park's coast, which they collected and handed over to Vladyslav Balynskyi's private laboratory. After that, the Commission on Technogenic and Environmental Safety and Emergencies at the Odesa Regional State Administration held an extraordinary meeting.

The accident in the Kerch Strait became known on December 15. The shipwreck occurred near Cape Panagia in the Temryuk district of Krasnodar Krai, in the southwest of the Taman Peninsula, 12 kilometers from the village of Taman. It is the eastern entrance to the Kerch Strait from the Black Sea. According to official data, both tankers could have been carrying about 8,000 tons of oil products.

Андрій Колісніченко