Dying, dead Gulf wildlife concealed by BP: ‘Nature is cruel, but what's happening here is crueler’

BY Matthew Lysiak In Grand Isle, La. and Helen Kennedy, DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Wednesday, June 2nd 2010, 12:52 AM Here’s what President Obama didn’t see when he visited the Gulf Coast: a dead dolphin rotting in the shore weeds. “When we found this dolphin it was filled with oil. Oil was just pouring out of it. It was the saddest darn thing to look at,” said a BP contract worker who took the Daily News on a surreptitious tour of the wildlife disaster unfolding in Louisiana. His motive: simple outrage. “There is a lot of coverup for BP. They specifically informed us that they don’t want these pictures of the dead animals. They know the ocean will wipe away most of the evidence. It’s important to me that people know the truth about what’s going on here,” the contractor said. “The things I’ve seen: They just aren’t right. All the life out here is just full of oil. I’m going to show you what BP never showed the President.” The day was 85 degrees, the blue sky almost white with sunshine, the air fresh with salt tang. After checking that he was unobserved, he motored out to Queen Bess barrier island, known to the locals as Bird Island. The grasses by the shore were littered with tarred marine life, some dead and others struggling under a thick coating of crude. “When you see some of the things I’ve seen, it would make you sick,” the contractor said. “No living creature should endure that kind of suffering.” … “I saw a pelican under water with only its wing sticking out,” he said. “I grabbed it and lifted it out of the water. It was just covered in oil. It was struggling so hard to survive. We did what we could for it. “Nature is cruel, but what’s happening here is crueler.” …

Dying, dead marine wildlife paint dark, morbid picture of Gulf Coast following oil spill