I'm petitioning the White House to consider revising the method for counting oiled wildlife. The Consolidated Wildlife Reports issued after the BP spill include ONLY wildlife that was physically retrieved, either dead or still alive to be brought to rehab facilities. This did not give any clear picture of the huge numbers of wildlife that were not collected. The total number provided on the Consolidated Wildlife Report ended up with fewer than 8,000 birds--yet did not include ANY of the nesting birds on Raccoon Island. Of the 10,000 adults on the island, scientists estimated that 50–80 percent had been oiled, destroying the chances of most of the eggs and young. Counting just this one colony would easily have doubled the total, but none were counted on this or other nesting colonies in the Gulf, presumably because collecting these birds for rehab would have "compromised nesting success." Please sign my petition to the White House! You will have to "register for an account," because they will only consider petitions signed by 100,000 unique people, so need to verify that you're a real person who will answer the email they send back to you confirming your email address. It's easy to opt out of any additional emails.
Laura's petition to the White House to keep count of all oiled birds.