BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — California Department of Fish and Wildlife staff collected several birds from Truxtun Lake for testing at a state lab after they were found dead on the banks of Truxtun Lake.
- 23ABC spoke with Anthony Zamora, an angler who lives in Bakersfield, who said he started noting the dead birds in the middle of October.
- CDFW Public Information Officer Krysten Kellum says the department is just monitoring birds at this time, but if anyone finds any dead animals around the area, they can report them directly to CDFW's Wildlife Health Lab on their website.
- The City of Bakersfield acknowledged that it was aware of the issue, but will not be testing the water, soil, or vegetation in the area. In the meantime, Park Rangers will coordinate with Animal Control Officers to ensure any new dead animals are disposed of properly. A representative for the city added that residents who find any dead animal inside city limits can contact the city through its mobile app or the city's service request portal.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
As first reported by Lois Henry from SJV Water, several dead geese were found along the banks of Truxton Lake late last week. I'm Sam Hoyle, your neighborhood reporter, the cause of the deaths is still unknown, but here's what we do know.
Late last week, Bill Cooper, one of the founders of the Kern River Parkway Foundation posted on Facebook about several dead and struggling around Truxtun Lake and that he'd made a reporter with state fish and wildlife.
CA Fish and Wildlife Public Information officer Krysten Kellum says the department "staff collected two Canada geese and one Muscovy duck last week and another goose this week and will be getting the animals to CDFW's Wildlife Health Lab for testing," and that the public can report directly to the lab about sick or dead birds in the area. We'll include that contact information in this story online.
At this time the department is only monitoring birds, but Kellum added, "For Truxtun Lakes, we are particularly interested in observations of other species besides Canada geese that are presenting with symptoms of illness or found dead."
As 23ABC was gathering video for this story, we met Anthony Zamora, a local angler who's been coming to the lake for about a year, said he started noticing dead geese around the lake last month.
"Mid-October, when it started to kind of cool down, and it really started to drop. I don't know if they're letting water out for agriculture, but it seemed like when the grass started coming out. That's when I started noticing the geese were like floating, and they were dead in the water. Now there's a bunch of them on the bank," said Zamora.
"Does that give you pause for concern? You know, coming out here and fishing?" asked 23ABC
"Yeah, for sure, especially for the people that fish here, and they catch and keep and they eat them," said Zamora.
We reached out to the city of Bakersfield to get their involvement in the situation, Public Information Officer Joe Conroy sent us a statement saying "The City is aware of the dead animals found in the area of Truxtun Lakes., and park rangers are coordinating with animal control to patrol the area around Truxtun Lakes following the reports of the dead fowl. The City is not currently performing any tests on the water or surrounding land/vegetation."
Conroy added, that if any members of the public find any dead birds, get in touch with the city so they can dispose of the animals properly. We'll include links to how you can do that on our website.
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