Prestige Disaster

Published 16 December 2002 Stephen White.

Tags: Ibiza News

Despite the fact that the disastrous oil spill from the sunken tanker 'Prestige' is many hundreds of miles from Ibiza and in an entirely different sea, the effects are still being experienced here. Ibiza is the winter home to an endangered species of bird known as the virot, a member of the puffin family. These charming, often comical looking birds migrate from France in late November by way of Galicia to feast on the enormous banks of sardines which gather there. Already many examples of the bird have been found dead on the Galician beaches most affected by the slicks and some have even been found here in Ibiza covered in oil and exhausted by the difficult journey. Everything possible is being done to help these poor birds.

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