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To: abuelita who wrote (25033)	3/29/2003 1:37:59 AM
From: Wharf Rat	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 104197

By a thread. :-) Wharfie

To: abuelita who wrote (25033)	3/29/2003 6:22:14 AM
From: Clappy	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 104197

Oil Fires Threaten Migrating Birds themoscowtimes.com By Oksana Yablokova Staff Writer The U.S.-led war in Iraq has claimed the lives of both civilians and soldiers and is now beginning to take its toll on an unlikely population: flocks of migrating Russian birds. Ornithologists said they feared more oil wells would be set on fire, releasing smoke that will cause several thousands of birds wintering in Iraq to become disoriented and confused. As a result, the birds will not be able to complete the flight back to their summer homes in Russia, scientists said. International environmental groups have warned of the impact the war in Iraq might have on the entire region's environment. Many have predicted the damage could be more costly than after the 1991 Gulf War, as the conflict may be more far-reaching this time. After the Gulf War, scientists found many migrating birds with oily plumage in Russia, said Vadim Ryabitsev, an ornithologist with the Academy of Science's Environmental Institute in Yekaterinburg. Many more birds may have died before starting the migration home. So far, only a handful of oil wells have been set on fire in Iraq, compared with as many as 700 wells in Kuwait in 1991. Vladimir Galushin, chairman of the Russian Bird Protection Union, said he believes that burning oil wells and oil spills on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and the Persian Gulf are imminent given the intensity of fighting in the area. The fires will most certainly kill a good number of birds and other fauna, he said "Marshlands of southern Iraq, including the Basra region and the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, have long been known as popular wintering places with our water and near-water birds," Galushin said. Amirkhan Amirkhanov of the Natural Resources Ministry said thousands of birds might veer off their migrating route because of the smoke and fire. Most of them will not survive in the desert, he was quoted in Izvestia as saying. Scientists said they do not know exactly how many birds winter in Iraq and cannot estimate how many will be affected by the war. The country is on one of the migration routes for an estimated 1 billion birds, including ducks, geese, loons, seagulls, snipes and gray cranes, which inhabit the European part of Russia each year. Ducks and snipes will start their way home at the end of April. The trip can take up to two months. Seagulls, storks and cranes will head north after the ducks, Galushin said. Millions of other birds bypass the Middle East on their way to Africa for the winter. When a bird's feathers are covered with oil, it is impossible for it to fly and it soon dies of hypothermia, Galushin said. On top of that, oil blinds birds once it gets into their eyes, Ryabitsev added. "The problem is that birds do not distinguish oil from water, and they will land on oil spills like they would on water," Ryabitsev said. So far there have been no carpet bombings in this war, and many of the flocks have managed to stay away from the cities coming under heavy fire from U.S. and British forces, scientists said. "The mere war is not the biggest catastrophe for the feathered. Thank God, they have wings and can fly away," Ryabitsev said. He added, however, that birds are not always quick to figure out that their usual migrating routes have become dangerous and should be bypassed. The scale of the possible damage to the feathered population will not be clear until summer, when ornithologists expect most migrating birds to return and congregate in their major nesting places, Galushin said. Despite the threat against the bird populations, concerns about their fate will come secondary to those of the people living in the conflict areas, Ryabitsev said. "Nature preservation was the last problem the people of Iraq were thinking about before the war," he said. "Besides, research and observation of local and migrating birds, or any other fauna, has not been done in the area for decades. No foreign scientists dare to go there."