More dolphins are washing up on the shore in the gulf states and the Federal Government has yet to begin doing testing of the tissue samples that have been collected over the last two months.
Nine more dolphin carcasses were recovered in Alabama and Mississippi between Saturday and Wednesday, bringing the total for the two states to 62 since Jan. 1, according to a list compiled Wednesday by the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies.
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So as dolphins continue to die and tourist season approaches, there is still no explanation for what is killing these young dolphins. The Federal numbers have 114 deaths in all Gulf states since the beginning of the year with 50 of them being neonatal.
Federal statistics from 2002 to 2007 suggest about 14 dead dolphins would normally wash ashore between January and March along the entire Gulf Coast, with most of those in March, the beginning of the dolphin calving season.
14 Dolphins on average to 114 dolphins is an extraordinary jump, 10 times more than a normal calving season.
But the other issue has to do with the fact that the samples have yet to be tested.
But now, it has been learned that the feds have yet to send those samples off to be tested. So, the obvious question is why?
"It is really a question you should be asking the federal government," IMMS Director Dr. Solangi told us.
So we tried to ask federal officials, but got no answer. The only thing we know at this point is a letter, sent by NOAA to agencies gathering the samples, stated there is an ongoing criminal investigation. The dead dolphins are considered potential evidence in a lawsuit the federal government could file against BP.
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How long those samples remain viable depends on how they were preserved and the causes of their death could be from infectious disease, the BP spill or environmental issues. One such theory has been a colder than normal winter in Gulf Waters.
Experts are performing investigations to determine if the deaths are linked to the massive oil spill, the unusually cold winter, or some other cause yet to be discovered. Both the oil spill and the chemicals used to fight it and the cold winter can create a cumulative negative effect. Animals’ immune systems are weakened by chemical exposure thus decreasing their ability to adapt to cold weather. This combination can lead to an increase in infections that potentially lead to death. The greatest increase in baby bottlenose dolphin deaths is found along the Mississippi and Alabama shorelines. Dolphins typically give birth and raise their calves in these states due to their shallow water; therefore this is the hub for premature dolphin mortality. Toxicologists have warned that chemicals found in the crude oil and in the dispersants used to fight the oil have been linked to reproductive defects in several marine mammals.
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The most important question should be, why aren't the samples being tested or are they being tested and the results are being held to be part of a lawsuit against BP?