Nightingale Island, home to the iconic Northern Rockhopper Penguins, is largely untouched by the human world. That was, until a ship crashed onto the small South Atlantic island, spilling fuel and cargo.
The event happened on March 16, when the MV Oliva (Valetta) crashed on shore and spilled its cargo of soybeans and around 800 tons of fuel. It was witnessed by Andrew Evans, a photographer for National Geographic who was on the island on-assignment, taking pictures of the local wildlife.
The ecological disaster changed that assignment, and Evans began snapping shots of oil-soaked penguins instead of the pristine wilderness. More than 750 penguins were moved to a nearby island for cleaning and thousands are expected to eventually die due to the effect of the spill.
“The oil spill occurred at the tail end of the rockhoppers’ molting season, worsening the natural struggle of the skinny penguins to return to the sea and find enough fish to survive,” wrote Evans. “In order to prevent the penguins from returning to the sea, large pens have been set up on Nightingale Island.”
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