ABSTRACT
On 24 March 1989, the Exxon Valdez, a supertanker carrying close to 62 million gallons of Alaska North Slope crude oil, ran aground in Prince William Sound, Alaska (USA). In the ensuing 5 hours, approximately 37,000 metric tons (or 11 million gallons) spilled into the sound and started one of the largest anthropogenic ecological disasters in history (Piper 1993). Although a massive environmental cleanup and rehabilitation effort was initiated, the acute effects on wildlife in the area were severe. It is estimated that the number of sea otters (Enhydra lutris) that died as a direct result of acute oiling during the Exxon Valdez oil spill (EVOS) alone may have reached 4,000 animals (Garrott, Eberhardt, and Burn 1993).
