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News: Gas flare kills 7500 birds at refinery in Canada
ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 9/3/2012
Posts: 29,405
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Gas flare kills 7500 birds at refinery in Canada
Quote:
7,500 songbirds killed at gas plant
Migrating birds, some possible endangered species, flew into gas flare
About 7,500 songbirds, possibly including some endangered species, were killed while flying over a gas plant in Saint John late last week, officials have confirmed.
It appears the migrating birds flew into the gas flare at Canaport LNG between Friday night and Saturday morning, said Fraser Forsythe, the company's health, safety, security and environmental manager.
The birds were drawn to the flame like moths, an extremely unusual event, according to Don McAlpine, the head of zoology at the New Brunswick Museum.
"They would circle in around that and of course with a large flame like that and high temperatures, they wouldn't need to get terribly close to become singed or burned."
The weather conditions were foggy and overcast at the time, which may have contributed to the incident, said McAlpine.
Not much is known about how such birds navigate at night, but officials believe they are attracted to light, particularly red or flashing lights, he said.
The flare tower at the Canaport liquefied natural gas receiving and regasification terminal is about 30 metres tall and the size of the flame varies, depending on weather conditions. It is typically higher amid low-pressure systems.
Flaring is part of the standard operation at the east side plant, located on Red Head Road, and is designed as a safety release system. It is used to maintain normal operating pressure by burning off small amounts of excess natural gas.
An estimated 6,800 birds were killed, while several hundred more were injured and had to be put down. "There were too many birds to count," said McAlpine.
"A crude estimate at this stage suggests about 7,500 birds died," he said. "There's certainly more than 5,000 and probably less than 10,000 birds affected."
McAlpine is still examining several hundred of the dead birds, which are being stored in a freezer, to try to identify their species.
There were a large number of red-eyed vireos, several types of warblers, including parula, black-and-white, magnolias and redstarts, as well as a few thrushes and rose-breasted grosbeaks, he said.
It's possible there may have also been some endangered species, such as the olive-sided flycatcher and Canada warbler, which are on the federal government's species at risk registry, said McAlpine.
"There are some flycatchers involved, but I haven't identified them yet. There's very few. Likewise with the Canada warbler, I haven't seen any yet, but it doesn't mean they're not there."
Many of the birds were badly burned, but some appeared completely unscathed, said McAlpine. He suspects they became disoriented and hit the tower or the ground, but several have been sent to the Atlantic Veterinary College in Prince Edward Island for necropsies to determine if there were any underlying conditions or external factors that may have contributed to the bird deaths.
The affected birds, which are mostly insect-eating, spend their summers in New Brunswick nesting and breeding before heading to Mexico, Central and South America for the winter, he said.
Canaport LNG employees were devastated when they discovered the dead and injured birds piled up around the base of the plant's flame on Saturday morning, said Forsythe.
"We've got people that are pretty well reduced to tears here," he said.
"It has really struck home to our employees here and they've expressed a lot of remorse to me that this would happen. It's a very unexpected event," Forsythe said, adding it was the first incident of this type at the plant.
Cleanup efforts continued into Tuesday, said Forsythe.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-br...john-1.1857615
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Poor birds 
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Member Since: 10/3/2010
Posts: 50,276
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So sad. 
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Member Since: 2/2/2012
Posts: 26,226
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Humans 
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 23,368
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and they were migrating too that means they were gonna mate or was homebound
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Member Since: 3/15/2013
Posts: 8,605
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Poor birds.
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Member Since: 3/15/2013
Posts: 7,633
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I thought this was 7500 PEOPLE, I came in like holy ****!! 
Just birds tho. Hopefully the bodies get sold to KFC and they slay me with some new boneless gas flare bites 
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 2,148
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Don't call PETA on me but I thought it was 7500 people and my heart sank. Now not so much
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Member Since: 2/10/2012
Posts: 2,319
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The Gas Plant, it's global impact
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ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 9/3/2012
Posts: 29,405
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Quote:
Originally posted by JC_Arrow
and they were migrating too that means they were gonna mate or was homebound |
They were on their way to Mexico and South America
"BIRDS, PLEASE COME TO BRAZIL!"
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ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 9/3/2012
Posts: 29,405
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Quote:
Originally posted by Cyanide
Hopefully the bodies get sold to KFC and they slay me with some new boneless gas flare bites |
I love stuff grilled over an open flame
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Member Since: 9/1/2013
Posts: 1,994
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Well, makes sense. They were probably just drawn to the heat which is why birds migrate in the first place b/c of changing seasons. That's the only reasonable conclusion I can come to on why they were drawn to the flare. 
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Member Since: 8/31/2013
Posts: 5,259
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I love animals... and this is sad... but the way it's described sounds like it would be quite the sight in video form.
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Member Since: 8/18/2013
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Member Since: 6/28/2012
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Member Since: 8/18/2013
Posts: 15,244
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Oh no . This is such a trajic accident . U guys are so messy making fun of it
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 3,852
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Quote:
Originally posted by Cyanide
I thought this was 7500 PEOPLE, I came in like holy ****!!
Just birds tho. Hopefully the bodies get sold to KFC and they slay me with some new boneless gas flare bites |
Not even funny, just stupid.
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Banned
Member Since: 3/19/2012
Posts: 7,835
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 they flew into the flames on purpose? What?
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ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 9/14/2010
Posts: 78,921
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Unfortunate.
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Member Since: 11/7/2011
Posts: 2,338
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Quote:
Originally posted by Goombario
Nazzis their impact tho
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ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 9/3/2012
Posts: 29,405
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Quote:
Originally posted by Goombario
Nazzis their impact tho
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