For different reasons, they highlight different aspects of the threats oil spills pose to the environment. A spill of some 5,000 gallons in Humboldt Bay posed particular problems that concentrated its impact wildlife. Occurring in a very sheltered, shallow bay the spill could be contained relatively easily, but the natural action of the ocean could not be as effective at breaking up the slick as it would be in more open seas. Further south in Monterey Bay, birds were found washing up on beaches dead or injured. Odd as this may seem, this incident draws attention to the fact that what most people would perceive as an innocuous substance can be harmful in a different environment.
Oil is oil, birds and marine mammals fall victim to oil in two ways.
Firstly, it damages their feathers or fur so that their ability to maintain body temperature is severely limited. Although the source has yet to be determined, enough oil was dumped to create a slick three miles long. Reprehensible and illegal as the dumping was, it is conceivable that the culprits had no idea of the consequences of their actions. Cooking oil does not provide the photo-opportunity that a black, gooey mass of crude oil can. North of San Francisco off Point Reyes, another wave of dead and injured birds are also washing up on beaches along with numerous, but isolated, oil deposits.