From February to April, a two-month span, 877 dead dolphins and porpoises have been found on the beaches of northern Peru. The problem? No one knows why. It could be a virus. It could be an infection. It could be seismic oil exploration. It could be air guns. It could be nothing?
It’s probably not nothing. Though mass dolphin deaths do happen around the world from time to time, the number of deaths in Peru have been “particularly high”. Deputy Environment Minister Gabriel Quijandria thinks it might be a virus, saying that’s the “most probable hypothesis”, but others are pointing the finger at seismic oil exploration; from February 8 to April 8 (nearly the same time frame as the dolphin deaths), BPZ Energy has been using a ship to fire compressed air toward the ocean floor to analyse the region. Could the heavy and frequent shots of air be negatively affecting the dolphin population? They don’t know. Research of the dolphin disaster is expected to conclude next week. [Yahoo News]
Image: AP