Tuesday, March 31, 2009

100s of Dead Ducks

Remember last April when those 500 ducks landed on one of Syncrude's tailing ponds near Fort Mac? Well, it wasn't 500.

Alberta Fish and Wildlife officials and Syncrude initially estimated 500 waterfowl were involved in the incident. In the weeks that followed, the birds later returned to the surface, where staff collected, counted and reported the numbers as part of the government's investigation. The Crown prosecutors have agreed Syncrude can release the final bird count, which is 1,606.

That little "oopsie" aside (not mentioned in the first stories out today), it is good to see that the company making an attempt to find out what happened and change its procdedures.

3 comments:

WesternGrit said...

Hmmm... Big open pond of poison. Wonder how you "change that procedure"???

Lip service is great. There is only one solution: No more tailings ponds/lakes... Either that, or train the birds not to land in the poisoned water, vs. the less poisoned Alberta ponds, lakes, and streams...

Anonymous said...

Which is so different from the Environmental Criminals in Toronto that murder hundreds of poor little innocent song birds EVERY DAY.

"A Toronto-based group that collects the bodies of hundreds of dead birds each morning is urging highrise owners to turn off their buildings' lights at night.

Birds migrating north in the springtime often fly into the illuminated windows of office buildings, confusing their brightness with the starlight they use to navigate.

Michael Mesure is the executive director of the Fatal Light Awareness Program (FLAP), which is launching an education program about the problem.

Leo Lewin, 9, looks at about 2,000 dead birds on display at the ROM in Toronto Wednesday, March 8, 2006. (CP photo)
Leo Lewin, 9, looks at about 2,000 dead birds on display at the ROM in Toronto Wednesday, March 8, 2006. (CP photo)

It's aimed at convincing building owners and managers that they could save energy costs as well as birds' lives by urging their corporate tenants to turn out the lights at night.

Mesure and his 60 or so volunteers collect the dead or injured birds in the morning – some days collecting as many as 500."

Must be uber true . . it is a CBC story.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2006/03/08/birds-windows060308.html


Big fines need for Toronto - maybe tens of $$Billions to get you environmental criminals to pay for your dirty deeds.


EARTH FIRST!!!


We'll plow Toronto under later.

bigcitylib said...

Same thing happens in Calgary and Edm., Fred.