Dolphin deaths on the Gulf Coast

Scientists are doing the work now on dolphin deaths in the Gulf of Mexico--it seems 53 of them have washed up on beaches dead when the norm is far lower at 2 per year, from what I've read.

Scientists scrutinize rise in baby dolphin deaths

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Scientists are trying to figure out what killed 53 bottlenose dolphins - many of them babies - so far this year in the Gulf of Mexico, as five more of their carcasses washed up Thursday in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

It's likely to be months before they get back lab work showing what caused the spontaneous abortions, premature births, deaths shortly after birth and adult deaths said Blair Mase, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's stranding coordinator for the Gulf Coast.

Moby Solangi, director of the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Gulfport, said he'd never seen anything like the calf deaths, or found word of anything like it in 30 years of records from his area - Alabama, Mississippi and east Louisiana.

I have to say, however, that, given the whole oil spill ordeal and the dispersants put on the Gulf, it seems difficult to believe that there wouldn't be a correlation between these deaths and the nightmare that was the oil spill. 

No conclusion, for sure and no "presumed guilty" but it sure seems highly likely, don't you think?

For now, we'll stay tuned.

Links:  http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_DEAD_DOLPHINS?SITE=JRC&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
http://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/wildlife/scientists-investigating-dolphin-deaths-in-gulf-say-bp-oil-spill-is/1153647