Birds released on island cleaned of oil

Published 4:53 pm Thursday, September 23, 2010

Two months after hundreds of oiled pelicans were discovered on Raccoon Island, brown pelicans cleaned of oil have been released on the island — also cleaned of oil.

The release of four brown pelicans and another 11 birds onto Raccoon Island on Tuesday was the first in Terrebonne Parish since May, when the Isle Dernieres barrier islands were slopped with oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill.

Raccoon Island is the westernmost island in the chain, and one of Louisiana’s biggest pelican rookeries. Biologist Cassidy LeJeune of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries said took minimal oiling during the spill, and new oil hasn’t been seen in Terrebonne for more than a month.

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