Oil killing wildlife

June 6, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

ON BARATARIA BAY, La.

The wildlife apocalypse along the Gulf Coast that everyone has feared for weeks is fast becoming a reality.

Pelicans struggle to free themselves from oil, thick as tar, that gathers in hip-deep pools, while others stretch out useless wings, feathers dripping with crude. Dead birds and dolphins wash ashore, coated in the sludge. Seashells that once glinted pearly white under the hot June sun are stained crimson.

Scenes such as these played out along miles of shoreline Saturday, nearly seven weeks after a BP rig exploded and the wellhead a mile below the surface began belching millions of gallons of oil.

“These waters are my backyard, my life,” said boat captain Dave Marino, a firefighter and fishing guide from Myrtle Grove. “It’s a nightmare. It looks like it’s going to be wave after wave, and nobody can stop it.SDRq

The oil has steadily spread east, washing up in greater quantities in recent days, even as a cap placed by BP over the blown-out well began to collect some of the escaping crude. The cap, resembling an upside-down funnel, has captured about 252,000 gallons of oil, according to Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the government’s point man. That means the cap is capturing from a quarter to as much as half the oil spewing from the blowout each day.