Arizona residents furious after renovations at lake left dead ducks, fears of botulism
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A park renovation in Arizona has left some residents disgusted and livid due to the number of dead, rotting wildlife turning up in the area.
Gilbert, Arizona's Freestone Park has had its lake drained — and even though city officials said the wildlife living in the lake would largely be relocated during the process, some fish could not be removed and are now rotting in the mostly empty body of water.
This has left a pungent stench in the area and is attracting mosquitoes — and vultures, according to FOX 10 Phoenix.
"It smells; it’s so bad. There’s so many mosquitoes right now," Linda Fuller, a Gilbert resident, told the broadcaster.
Ducks have also reportedly died at the lake, attracting scavengers to feed on their remains, hence the vultures.
"The turkey vultures have been coming because of the dead ducks," Fonda Christopher, another resident, told the outlet.
Michael Elliot, Gilbert's Park and Recreation Director, told FOX 10 Phoenix that draining the lake was necessary to remove years of built-up silt and sediment and to replace the liner on the lake's bottom.
"We’ve done the drawdown and the dredging, and that’s where you are starting to see the most visible signs of the project underway," he said. "And I think that's what's led to some of the feedback that we received."
He confirmed that some of the fish and ducks ended up dying in the lake.
"But the other fish we couldn't bring, and so those fish, unfortunately, just passed from the water being lowered," Elliot said. "I also think that a lot of the ducks that have passed, unfortunately, are a result of that as well."
Some residents have complained, claiming that the ducks living at the lake don't fly and cannot relocate on their own.
Animal advocates, like Crystal's Critter Haven and East Valley Wildlife, have started rescuing animals from the lake in response.
"We initially signed up to take in the domestic ducks, the ones that can't fly away, and now it’s turned into a whole rescue mission of these ducks that have some kind of illness that we’re unaware of, but we are thinking it’s botulism," Crystal White of Crystal's Critter Haven told the outlet.
According to the organization, 36 waterfowl and four turtles have been rescued from the lake.
White said that the rescue effort took time to come together and that the city's renovations at the park were "definitely handled poorly in the beginning."
She said she hopes the situation in Gilbert can serve as a "lesson for all parks throughout our state."
Elliot said that the city will work more closely with its partners in wildlife organizations on future projects.
"We have committed, for future programs, to work with our wildlife partners intentionally to build a plan that is a little bit more robust," Elliot told the broadcaster.
For now, the city is focused on testing the water at the lake for botulism and fighting the mosquitoes at the site. He said the lake will finish draining by the end of the week.
