Crude-coated pelicans writhing in oily pools, thick as tar. Dead dolphins washing ashore one by one. Sea gulls covered in gunk barely able to flap their wings. Welcome to the new Gulf Coast, where these heartbreaking scenes played out with horrifying frequency.

全身包覆原油的鵜鶘在油膩的淺灘翻滾蠕動，那灘油濃稠如焦油瀝青；已經死亡的海豚一隻隻被沖上岸；全身黏糊糊的海鷗幾乎無法展翅。歡迎光臨新版墨西哥灣沿岸，而這些令人心碎、觸目驚心的鏡頭越來越常出現。

About seven weeks after a Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and started gushing crude into the sea, the sweeping ecological damage from the worst oil spill in history is reaching these once pristine shores. “These waters are my backyard, my life,” said boat captain Dave Marino. “It's a nightmare. It looks like it's going to be wave after wave of it and nobody can stop it.”

深水鑽油平台發生爆炸並開始噴湧出原油到海洋後，約7周以來，史上最嚴重的漏油事件已汙染一度純淨的海岸，並對生態造成全面破壞。「這些水域有如我家後院，是我生活的全部。」馬力諾船長說：「這是場噩夢，看來將造成一波波衝擊，沒有人能夠阻擋。」

The oil slick has spread in recent days, polluting the coastlines of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. Officials said the latest effort to stem the flow of leaking oil was sucking up about one-third of the roughly 800,000 gallons gushing from the broken well each day. But that is a tiny fraction of the roughly 24 million to 47 million gallons officials estimate have spewed into the gulf since the April 20 explosion that killed 11 workers.

最近幾天浮油蔓延，汙染路易斯安那州、密西西比州、阿拉巴馬州和佛羅里達州海岸線。官員說，在最近這波阻止石油外漏的努力中，每天約吸取約1/3從破裂油井湧出的80萬左右加侖的原油。但這跟4月20日油井爆炸造成11人死亡後，噴湧到墨西哥灣的約2400萬至4700萬加侖原油相比，根本微不足道。

As BP claimed making progress containing the Gulf oil spill over the weekend, the number of birds hobbled by the oil increased at an alarming rate, indicating the oil is spreading farther into sensitive marshlands. The Fort Jackson Oiled Wildlife Rehabilitation Center has treated 203 oiled birds, many brown pelicans, since the center opened six weeks ago. Of those, 110 have arrived recently, said Jay Holcomb, executive director for the International Bird Rescue Research Center （IBRRC）.

正當英國石油公司自稱，上周末在防堵墨西哥灣石油外洩上取得進展之際，因石油汙染而蹣跚跛行的鳥類數量正以驚人的速度增加，顯示油汙已進一步蔓延到敏感的沼澤地帶。自「傑克遜堡油汙野生物康復中心」6周前設立以來，已處理203隻沾滿油汙的鳥類，包括不少褐色鵜鶘。「國際鳥類救援研究中心」執行長霍爾庫姆表示，其中110隻最近才送來。

At least 75 oiled birds across the Gulf Coast have died, according to statistics compiled by the Coast Guard's Unified Command. Animal rehabilitation groups and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have also rescued 28 oiled sea turtles. “This really increases the urgency of efforts to shut off the leak,” Holcomb said. Typically, as many as half the birds die while in captivity, although the survival in this spill appears to be higher. Doug Inkley, senior scientist for the National Wildlife Federation, says that he's troubled most by what isn't visible. “The vast majority of impacts to fish and wildlife you will never see because it's occurring under water.”

另據海岸防衛隊統一指揮所彙編的統計顯示，全墨西哥灣沿岸至少已有75隻被石油汙染的鳥類死亡，動物康復中心和「美國魚類及野生物服務處」還救出28隻被石油汙染的海龜。「這的確使阻止石油洩漏更刻不容緩。」霍爾庫姆說。基本上，多達一半鳥類會在留置期間死亡，雖然這次油汙中倖存的鳥類似乎較多。「國家野生物協會」資深科學家因克利則說，他最感到困擾的其實是看不見的傷害：「絕大多數對魚類和野生物的衝擊你永遠看不到，因為它在水面下發生。」

Beachgoers in Pensacola Beach, Fla., continued to find tar balls and discolored seashells washing up on the shores. “I feel like I've gone from owning a piece of paradise to owning a toxic waste dump,” said Erin Tamber, who resettled in the Pensacola area after surviving Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.

到佛州彭薩科拉海灘的遊客，不斷發現一球球焦油和變色的貝殼沖上岸來。「我覺得我本來擁有一片天堂，如今卻變成有毒廢棄物垃圾場。」譚伯說，他在紐奧良卡翠納颶風倖存後，才遷居彭薩科拉地區。

In a metal building at Fort Jackson, La., 30 workers are busy cleaning oil-coated birds, banding them with a number and releasing them into the wild. “It doesn't allow us to monitor them,” Holcomb said. “But we can identify them if they are found again, or if they are found dead.” The birds will eventually be released in Florida, but there is no guarantee they won't return to their oiled islands. Pelicans have a strong instinct to return to the place they hatched, he said.

在路州傑克遜堡一棟純金屬建築中，30名工人正忙著清洗被油汙包覆的禽鳥，標記上數字後再野放。「我們無法追蹤牠們的行蹤。」霍爾庫姆說：「但起碼再找到牠們，或者發現牠們死了，我們可以辨識。」這些鳥最終將在佛州野放，但不能保證牠們不會飛回沾滿油汙的島嶼。鵜鶘有強烈的本能，會飛回孵蛋的地方，他說。

“Cleaning them is really time consuming,” Holcomb said. “They are coated in a really heavy, thick sludge of oil.” Technicians spend up to an hour cleaning each bird, first rubbing it with vegetable or canola oil to break up the crude oil, then washing them with warm water and detergent. The inside of the bird's beak and gullet must be scrubbed, too. Brown pelicans have a life span of 15 to 20 years or more and were removed from the endangered species list last fall. “They respond really well to the cleaning,” Heather Neville of Tri-state Bird Rescue and Research said “If we get them in time.”

「清理牠們的確費時耗力。」霍爾庫姆說：「牠們身上包覆著厚重的油汙。」技術人員至少得花1個小時才能清洗1隻鳥，先用蔬菜油或菜籽油使原油分解，再用溫水和清潔劑清洗，鳥嘴內部和食道也要擦洗。褐色鵜鶘壽命有15至20年甚至更長，去年秋天才從瀕危物種名單除名。「牠們對清洗的反應很好。」三州鳥類救護研究中心的希瑟．內維爾說：「如果我們及時找到牠們的話。」

Members of a three-man team from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology traveled from Grand Isle, La., by boat to the outer islands of Barataria Bay to film the effects the oil is having on the bird population. In comparison to the images they had taken earlier of oil-drenched pelicans, the gull looked in pretty good shape. But often those lightly oiled birds are most at risk, because they are difficult to catch and treat. “There are many, many thousands of birds out there that only have a bit of oil, and we don't have any idea what will happen to them,” Cameraman Benjamin Clock said. “We don't know how many birds out there that have drowned. Only a fraction of the number of those that die are found .”

康乃爾鳥類學實驗室3人小組成員，專程從路州大島搭船到巴拉塔里亞灣外島，去拍攝油汙對鳥群的影響。相較於他們稍早所拍攝浸泡在油汙中的鵜鶘影像，海鷗看來情況不錯。但往往那些只沾到一點點油汙的鳥最危險，因為牠們很難捕捉和處理。「那邊有成千上萬無數的鳥只沾了一點點油汙，我們不知道牠們會有什麼下場。」攝影師柯洛克說：「我們不知道有多少鳥兒已經淹死，只有一小部分死掉的鳥被人發現。」

“This is a siege across the entire Gulf. This spill is holding everybody hostage ... And it has to be attacked on all fronts,” said Coast Guard admiral Thad Allen. Photo left shows volunteer Cassen Pulaski cleans an oiled brown pelican at a rescue center at a facility set up by the IBRRC in Fort Jackson, Lo. Photo right shows a pelican sitting covered with oil in Barataria Bay.

「整個墨西哥灣有如圍城，每個人都成為這次漏油的人質……必須全方位出擊才能解決。」海岸防衛隊的艾倫中將說。圖左為義工普拉斯基正在路州傑克遜堡「國際鳥類救援研究中心」的設施中，清洗一隻全身沾滿油汙的褐色鵜鶘；（路透）右圖則為一隻全身包覆油汙的鵜鶘無助的困坐在巴拉塔里亞灣。（美聯社）