When the oil gets inhaled by an animal it becomes poisonous, and when it gets in the animal’s fur they can’t use the fur to maintain body temperature. Since the oil floats, animals like seabird and sea otters are commonly affected and are often found on the shorelines when the oil comes ashore. Other animals, such as snails and clams, also get harmed if the oil stays on the beach for too long. Animals are dying or getting harmed, according to response.restoration.noaa.gov, when they could still live if the oil was cared better for.
Oil spills not only affect animals, but they affect the economy. When oil is spilled, the government has to spend money cleaning it up. They spent over 1 million dollars cleaning up oil each year. Some jobs, such as fishermen, can’t make enough money because the animals are dying from the oil. If there was an oil spill in an area that heavily relies on the tourism industry, they would suffer economically. Many jobs, people, and governments are losing money, according to istf.ucf.edu, when the oil could just be controlled more