gulf of mexico

As efforts to contain the oil spill continue, a new slideshow from our US colleagues details the ongoing consequences of the massive slick from the BP Deepwater Horizon platform in the Gulf of Mexico.

And you can see the complete Gulf Oil Spill photoset on Flickr as well.

Greenpeace USA's Joao Talocchi writes from the Gulf of Mexico, where our ground team has been documenting the impacts of BP's Deepwater Horizon disaster.

Today we visited one of the Bird Rehabilitation Centers in Louisiana. We saw dozens of birds, from different species, cleaned of oil with detergent, water and toothbrushes and tagged. They are monitored and then released to the wild. The center has treated and release more then 500 birds so far, a small number if you take into account that more then 550 miles (885Km) of shoreline has been impacted by the Deep Water Horizon disaster.

Unlike these pelicans, hermit crabs are less obvious victims of the Deepwater disaster (proper crab imagery below the fold, honest) © Magan/Greenpeace

John Hocevar, team leader of the oceans campaign at Greenpeace USA, is currently in Louisiana helping with Greenpeace's response to the BP oil spill. Here's his latest report from the centre of the ever-growing disaster.

Greetings from Grand Isle, Louisiana, one of the growing number of places unlucky enough to win a "heavily oiled" classification on the government maps tracking the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Despite BP's efforts to keep it under wraps, we're here to document the impacts of the spill. The public has a right - and a responsibility - to know the true cost of our continued reliance on offshore oil, and fossil fuels in general.