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Discovery Communications Inc.
Thousands
of birds in Iran have been killed by an oil leak that has
spawned a huge slick on a large lagoon in southern Abadan.
Kazem
Sepehrfar, the head of the Environment Protection Organization
in Khuzestan Province, said on Wednesday that oil leaking
from refinery pipes near the international Shadegan Lagoon
has polluted 250 acres of swamp in the area, inflicting
"irreparable damage" to the area's flora and fauna.
The
pipes are remnants of a period of conflict from the 1980s
and have become old and corroded.
Sepehrfar said that the stricken lagoon is home to at least
150 species of birds. More than 30 per cent of Iran's total
bird species inhabit the area. Local residents are also
highly dependent upon the lagoon's fish for their sustenance.
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