The number of birds killed by oil spill in the Gulf of Odesa exceeds one thousand

The pollution of the sea in the Gulf of Odesa with sunflower oil spilled as a result of the Russian attack on Pivdennyi port has led to the death of more than 1,000 birds.

This was reported by Ivan Rusev, an employee of the Tuzly Estuaries National Nature Park, an ecologist.

According to him, this is based on calculations made by the national park's staff. He also noted that 400 birds are the ones that were tried to be saved in the Odesa Zoo and by private efforts of Odesa residents.

"The number of birds that survive the impact of large amounts of oil is very, very low, on average 15-20%. And that's if the birds are kept in warm rooms until spring. Since oil is harsh on birds, it sticks feathers together, destroys their natural protective layer, so the bird cannot take off from the water. It quickly gets wet and eventually hypothermic," the ecologist explained.

In addition, according to Ivan Rusev, trying to clean the feathers, the bird actively swallows oil, which leads to its accumulation and intoxication, destroys the liver and suppresses the bird's immune system. Rapid hypothermia, severe stress, and a weak immune system activate bird infections, and if birds are infected with worms, they also begin to actively multiply and kill the bird.

"That is why the scale of the problem is deeper and wider than it has been described by Odesa ecologists and journalists for a couple of weeks," he said.

Ivan Rusev also said that vegetable oil and dead birds were also found on the 28th kilometer of the sandy spillway in the National Park.

"During the inspection of the site, several spots with oil were found in different places of the sandbar on January 27, 2026, with a total area of up to 5 thousand square meters - 15 kilometers of sandbar were inspected. It should be noted that the distance of the emissions from the accident site is about 150 kilometers, which indicates a wider scale and nature of the pollution. During the survey, birds belonging to five species were found on the seashore, including Great and Black-necked Ducks and Red-throated Eiders. A repeat survey of the vegetable oil plots two days after the next storms showed that powerful storms had completely covered the oil patch with sand and the waves carried away all the remains of the birds we had managed to capture in the photo on January 27. Some of them, of course, went to local predators - jackals, badgers, foxes, raccoon dogs, which travel the long routes along the coast at night," the ecologist noted.

Instead, while exploring the coast in the national park, ecologists did not find a single dead seahorse on the beaches. According to Ivan Rusev, this may indicate the presence of specific causes of their death, related to both pollution and the relief of the seabed in the places where they were thrown ashore.

Кирило Бойко