New Zealand Oil Spill Pictures: Beaches, Birds Coated

Oiled Shag

Photograph from Maritime New Zealand/Massey University via Getty Images

An oil-soaked shag—a species of bird—is cleaned at a wildlife-rehabilitation facility in Tauranga, New Zealand, on October 8.

Oil harms birds in two ways: internally and externally. Oil-soaked birds vigorously preen their feathers to remove the toxic crude, accidentally ingesting it, which can cause internal ailments.

Externally, oil degrades the birds' waterproofing oils, allowing cold water to touch skin and making the animals vulnerable to hypothermia, especially in cold regions.

(Related: "Oil-Coated Gulf Birds Better Off Dead?")

Published October 11, 2011

Leaning Toward Disaster

Photograph from Sunlive/European Pressphoto Agency

The cargo ship Rena lists precariously after becoming stranded on Astrolabe Reef near Tauranga, New Zealand, on October 5.

The ship—carrying 1,700 tons of fuel oil and 2,100 shipping containers—has become more unstable in the past day, and as many as 70 containers may have already fallen into the sea, the New Zealand Herald reported.

About 11 containers on board contain hazardous substances, though they are not believed to be among those now in the ocean, Maritime New Zealand officials told the Herald.

Published October 11, 2011

Oil Slick

Photograph by Ross Brown, Sunlive/Getty Images

An oil slick snakes from the grounded cargo ship Rena on October 9.

In March the Malta-registered M.S. Oliva ran aground and later broke open in rough weather near a remote island in the British territory of Tristan da Cunha (see map).

That disaster also leaked fuel oil, which spread into an 8-mile (13-kilometer) slick and coated thousands of birds, including the endangered rockhopper penguin.

(See pictures: "Rare Penguins Blackened by Remote Oil Spill.")

Published October 11, 2011

Scratching the Surface

Photograph by Natacha Pisarenko, AP

Worker Dorothea Strauss removes fuel oil coating the surface of a beach in Tauranga, New Zealand, on October 11.

Twenty official oil-response teams of 200 people each have been recruited to remove the oil as it washes ashore, the New Zealand Herald reported. About a thousand volunteers have also registered with Maritime New Zealand.

Past experience, however, suggests it's easy for cleanup crews to be deceived by invisible oil, Michel Boufadel, an expert on the 1989 Exxon Valdez tanker spill in Alaska, told National Geographic News in 2010. (See Exxon Valdez Pictures: 20 Years on, Spilled Oil Remains.)

For example, in 1992 crews packed up and left the Valdez site without realizing that vast quantities of oil still sat below the surface—and much of that oil remains underground today, said Boufadel, of Temple University's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in Pennsylvania.

Published October 11, 2011

Oil-Slicked Victims

Photograph courtesy Maritime New Zealand via European Pressphoto Agency

Oiled penguins rest at a wildlife-rehabilitation facility in Tauranga, New Zealand, on October 7.

The facility has so far treated nine birds, but rehab director Brett Gartrell told the New Zealand Herald he expects the number to rise.

"There are lots and lots of seabirds in the area. This is a really rich area. There's a very high possibility we'll be dealing with a large scale" of oiled animals, Gartrell told the newspaper.

Published October 11, 2011

"Posing" Penguin

Photograph by Bradley Ambrose, Getty Images

Freshly scrubbed free of oil, a rescued penguin "poses" for the media at the wildlife-rehabilitation center in Tauranga, New Zealand, on October 11.

Costamare Inc., the company that owns the leaking cargo ship, is responsible for all costs incurred during cleanup operations, including caring for injured wildlife, the New Zealand Herald reported.

"This is being paid for by the spiller. Cost is not a problem for us," rehab director Gartrell told the newspaper.

Published October 11, 2011