Thousands of geese die after landing in toxic US water [View all]

[WhiteTara]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/thousands-geese-die-landing-toxic-us-water-210543567.html

Los Angeles (AFP) - Thousands of migrating geese have died after taking refuge from a snowstorm in toxic mine waters in the western United States, mine officials have said.

As many as 10,000 snow geese descended on the abandoned open Berkeley Pit in Butte, Montana on November 28 and since then several thousand have perished, said Mark Thompson, environmental affairs manager for Montana Resources, which jointly manages the pit with the Atlantic Richfield Company.

Thompson told the Montana Standard Tuesday that mine workers tried to prevent the huge flock from landing on the water -- which contains sulfuric acid and heavy metals -- by using noise makers, spotlights and other methods but failed to scare them all off.

He described the pit's 700-acre (280-hectare) lake as "white with birds" when the flock landed on the water.

Since then, area residents have found dead birds in parking lots, in front of a casino, on the roadside and outside town. Thousands more are estimated to have died in the lake according to drone and flyover footage, officials say.

"Trying to get some idea of mortality has been difficult," Joe Vranka of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), told the Billings Gazette.