Animals have no use for payouts—they can't move to another town, they can't eat something else, and they can't pursue another line of work. So BP owes animals something different! As oil continues to wreck the water and destroy animals' breeding, nesting, and feeding grounds in the Gulf of Mexico, tens of thousands of animals are suffering and dying painful and lingering deaths—and there is no end in sight. PETA is calling on the attorneys general of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi to file charges of cruelty to animals against the BP executives who allowed this to happen and, because of their negligence, continue to let it go on.

The homes of countless animals have been destroyed. Oil-soaked birds slowly drown, turtles endure chemical burns and organ damage when they ingest tar balls, and many marine mammals, such as dolphins, have already been found dead along the coast. Experts say that whales will not escape the disaster unharmed either.

BP's "disaster plan" deliberately disregarded possible damage to native species and their habitats, listed a long-dead expert as a primary contact, totally overstated the company's ability and readiness to deal with such a catastrophe (it had no real plan!), and purposely underestimated the extent of the carnage that could occur and is still occurring.