As those who know them might expect, Dawn and Blair Witherington have been actively involved in sea turtle rescue necessitated by the Deep Horizon gusher in the Gulf of Mexico. Working from a boat with five others, Dawn described it simply as "horrible." She's back home, but Blair is still out there. The day after Dawn returned to Brevard, a reporter from the LA Times accompanied the rescuers on the boat and filed this story. Dawn says it describes everything perfectly. The story is called Death by Fire in the Gulf and starts out with "So-called burn boxes are torching oil from the water's surface at the sacrifice of turtles, crabs, sea slugs and other sea life."
I hate the effects of this gusher on the marinelife, but even more so, I'm so sorry that folks like Blair and Dawn, whose life purpose is to preserve and protect these critters and educate others about them, are being subjected to these horrors. This is a nature lover's war, and the scars will linger a long time. But Dawn shared her perspective thusly. She says there is a term for not being able to help - "compassion fatigue." She said that she was depressed before they went out there, and that while the whole thing was disturbing, being able to save turtles helped her mood a lot.
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2 comments:
This whole thing makes me so sad. Creatures being forced to pay the price for mans greed.
Bless the people who are out there helping them.
It's been depressing during our hike to come out of the woods and keep hearing about the spill. I haven't even had a chance to see what is really going on and how much the tv is really saying. But, I suppose this will help me find a job when I return.
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