Join Amazon Prime for exclusive deals, fast shipping, and endless entertainment! Sign up now!
Somehow, lab workers managed to accidentally murder “21,000 fish that had been kept for research purposes.” The Davis campus of the University of California is doing their part to protect the environment. They aren’t saying much about the incident but the cause of death looks like chlorine poisoning.
Thousands of dead fish
All they can call it is a “catastrophic failure.” Experts at the Center for Aquatic Biology and Aquaculture at UC Davis are doing their best to pin down what went wrong so they can keep it from happening again. They walked in Thursday morning, August 11, to find 21,000 floating fish.
The statement they issued noted that the creatures are “especially sensitive” to chlorine.
University officials were quick to assure activists from PETA to Greenpeace that they would investigate “where our process failed, notify regulatory officials and care for any survivors.”
They managed to save a few, but not many. The college notes the fish were “used for research that included investigations into bioenergetics and environmental stressors on fish species.” They learned a lesson which will stick with them on the stress effects of chlorinated water.
The team’s statement noted they care for several species of fish including “green and white sturgeon, as well as endangered Chinook salmon.”
They told those interested that there “are many other facilities where UC Davis conducts aquatic research that were not impacted by this situation.” So the whole operation wasn’t wiped out in one fell swoop.
Trusted to care for aquatic species
The university noted that “while many of these facilities do not have similar potential for chlorine exposure, there are some that do, and we are going to evaluate risk at those facilities.”
They also “know that many researchers, regulatory agencies, Native American tribes and other partners trust us to care for their aquatic species. We will work hard to earn that trust by conducting a thorough review of our facilities, holding ourselves accountable for what happened, and taking steps to prevent it from happening ever again.” Some of those fish might be hard to find species already.
Everyone involved shares “the grief of the faculty, staff and students who worked to care for, study and conserve these animals.” This isn’t what they’re about.
“The people who conduct and support the research at this facility are conservationists, ecologists and veterinarians whose life work is devoted to understanding and supporting these species. We recognize that this loss is particularly devastating to our community.” They love each and every one of their fish as if they were pets.
While accidents happen, they are usually preventable with the proper precautions.
“We commit to understanding what happened and making changes to the facility so that we can ensure that this does not happen again.” Meanwhile, the cafeteria will be serving fish chowder for the rest of the month.
