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Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research staff hydrate a Northern Gannet bird that was covered in oil from the BP Deepwater Horizon platform disaster off the coast of Louisiana, at their cleansing center in the town of Fort Jackson on May 1, 2010. A giant oil slick threatened economic and environmental devastation as it closed in on Louisiana’s vulnerable coast, prompting the US government to declare a national disaster. Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency and called for urgent help to prevent fragile wetlands and vital fishing communities along the coast from pollution on a massive scale. The wind started to strengthen and blow the 600-square-mile (1,550-square-kilometer) slick directly onto the coast, where a rich variety of wildlife were at risk in the maze of marshes that amounts to 40 percent of the US wetlands. AFP PHOTO/Mark RALSTON (Photo credit should read MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images)