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Nature & Environment

Mystery goop kills birds in San Francisco Bay

By T.K. Randall
January 23, 2015 · Comment icon 13 comments

Hundreds of seabirds in the bay area have been affected. Image Credit: CC BY 3.0 Christian Mehlfuhrer
Authorities have been struggling to identify a strange goo that's been wreaking havoc on local wildlife.
Efforts have now been stepped up in an attempt to identify the peculiar substance which has been polluting the water along San Fransisco Bay's eastern edge.

Local bird rescue centers have been inundated with cases of seabirds covered in the clear, odorless substance which impairs their ability to insulate themselves against the cold.

The goop turned up in the bay area around a week ago.

"It was thick enough to see in the water for a few days and now you can't really see it unless you know where to look," said Andrew Hughan of the California Department of Fish & Wildlife.
"It's a real mystery. We've never seen anything like it and neither have the bird rescuers."

Experts believe that the goo is man-made but have been unable to determine exactly what it is or where it came from. One possibility is that it could be a type of rubber called polyisobutylene.

Rescuers are continuing to work around the clock in an effort to save as many birds as possible but so far more than 200 are believed to have been killed and hundreds more could still be at risk.

Source: Yahoo! News | Comments (13)




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Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #4 Posted by seeder 9 years ago
maybe it was whales with belly ache? http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=277230&hl=
Comment icon #5 Posted by paperdyer 9 years ago
I saw this the other day on another site. Freaky and a shame.
Comment icon #6 Posted by travelnjones 9 years ago
Could be a bunch of stuff. The bay is a pretty busy place with the port of Oakland and oil refining around San Pablo bay. Also Santa Cruz for all its hippy weirdness dumps sewer water right into the ocean. Who knows what comes from that dump.
Comment icon #7 Posted by EnderOTD 9 years ago
I'm guessing it's a build up of all the hair-dye from hipsters changing their hair color weekly.
Comment icon #8 Posted by Sundew 9 years ago
"Goo, sometimes fatal, found in San Francisco." Sorry, you'll have to make up your own jokes for this one. Bummer for the wildlife though.
Comment icon #9 Posted by shrooma 9 years ago
we have loads of pigeons round here with spazzy feet-probably from eating fag ends & ring-pulls from four-packs, but none of the buggers seem to be checking out any time soon..... .
Comment icon #10 Posted by bubblykiss 9 years ago
Airborne jellyfish. I hate those things more than flying scorpions or south Indonesian Snake Trees.
Comment icon #11 Posted by Ralaman 9 years ago
Maybe a gay bar exploded?
Comment icon #12 Posted by Hammerclaw 9 years ago
It's some sort of chemical pollutant, reacting with seawater, probably illegally released from a ship or barge. Seawater acts as a natural emulsifier, increasing the viscosity of the oil-water waste which makes it difficult to pump the waste from the barges to shore tanks for processing. Reclaimed oil, refinery crudes, and slop often contain chemical emulsions which have been stabilized by inorganic impurities, viscosity stabilizers, etc.
Comment icon #13 Posted by travelnjones 9 years ago
No need to dump this is on the bay


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