MOSCOW, Jan 2 : Veterinarians and volunteers in Russia’s Anapa town and Temryuksky district have rescued more than 2,100 birds affected by the recent fuel oil spillage, with some of them all but ready to return to the wild, the regional crisis response centre said on Thursday.
“More than 2,100 birds were rescued in Anapa and the Temryuksky District. Almost 1,500 birds were transferred to rehabilitation centers. The birds in good health start to be returned to the wild,” the centre said on Telegram.
There are five bird-assisting centres currently working in Anapa and the Temryuksky District, and authorities are mulling opening another one, the centre added.
As of Thursday morning, almost 73,000 tonnes of oil-contaminated sand were removed from the beaches of Anapa and the Temryuksky District, the crisis centre said. More than half of it had to be moved to a temporary accumulation site near Anapa, as the permanent recycling sites are currently at their capacity limit and unable to make space for new batches of sand, the statement read.
The Krasnodar Territory’s ministry of natural resources told Sputnik on Thursday that the oil-contaminated coastline stretching from Anapa to the Temryuksky District is home to some 50 red-listed animal species, including 25 species included in the Russian Red Book, as well as 19 red-listed plant species.
On December 15, two oil fuel-laden tankers, Volgoneft 212 and Volgoneft 239, wrecked in the Kerch Strait, which connects the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, during a storm.
The tankers were believed to be carrying an estimated 9,200 tonnes of fuel oil, of which about 3,700 tonnes leaked into the sea and also polluted the shore. Russia declared the oil spill in its Krasnodar Territory an environmental emergency of federal level on December 26.
(UNI)
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