Tragic Oil Spill in New Zealand

This is what our beautiful beaches are covered in right now. It's awful and it's getting worse each day. There are dead birds and fish littering the shores. It breaks my heart. People have actually dug big trenches in the sand that read "CLEAN ME and HELP ME."

Yesterday we were on a walk around the Mount and we discovered a baby seal who was stranded high on the rocks near the trail. The fur on his hind regions and back flippers had oil. He was crying. It was absolutely heartbreaking. We waved down the coast guard who was patrolling the beach for animals just like him. They were unable to come to shore due to the 16 foot waves and all the rocks. They yelled for us to stay with him and keep people back until help could arrive. We hung out for the next hour and waited for the help. He was the most adorable little thing. His eyes were like big balls of black glass that seemed to look at us just pleading for help. It really was so sad. The kids were nearly in tears every time he would cry.

During our wait time most people were respectful and kept their distance, but there are always a few who rank really high on the stupidity chart! One man nearly fell off a giant boulder onto the rocks below while trying to take a pic of the little guy. Despite several all of us yelling at him to get back, he refused and nearly caused the seal to fall as well which scared us all to death. I think he felt incredibly stupid once he realized how dumb he was. Serves him right.

Finally, the team of marine rescue people came. They said he wasn't too terrible as far as the oil goes and they would be back to get him later during low tide. All they did was put up a sign that told people to stay back. I was shocked. Apparently they have a marine triage system just like a people hospital does and there were seals in far worse condition that they needed to get to.

As we continued on the walk we saw three more adult seals who looked awful....like they probably wouldn't survive. They were all being tended to, but it was still heartbreaking.

It's supposed to get worse over the next week or so. They are desperately trying to pump oil off the ship before is breaks apart. The seas are crazy which is turning a terrible situation into and even worse one. I don't think I've ever seen waves that big in my life. Some appear to be almost 20-25 feet. I'm sure the surfers are going crazy.

Today we started to see some of the cargo that had fallen off the ship come on shore. The perfectly pristine beaches are no more for the time being. It's sad and even more sad that they aren't allowing the public to help more. Today they haven't allowed anyone who isn't part of the "official" clean up crew on the beach. It's odd to me that you wouldn't take advantage of that help. All you need is a pair of gloves, a spade and a plastic bag and you can help. I was ready to take the kids out to help today, but it was a no go. Darn.

Hopefully, the weather will cooperate and they can stop it from getting any worse!





So this picture didn't turn out at all. You could actually see the oil in the waves as they came crashing into the rocks.



And of course, the day I didn't bring my camera we see the baby seal. If you look really hard you can see a little brown blob in the middle of the rocks. (And yes I still have a crappy flip phone! But hey, it's a phone.) That's the baby seal. I'm still dying that I couldn't capture those beautiful glassy eyes and his sweet face. At least we know he's going to be all right!