Spring Break
Ruthless neglect of wildlife on campus (6/4/08)
Zach Wingerter
Issue date: 6/18/08 Section: News
The cleanup of Western Illinois University's Lake Ruth may seem calm on the surface, but it has created waves of problems for the lake's innocent wildlife.
Recent Western graduate and Eagle Scout Erik Byers went to Lake Ruth when the process began May 19 out of curiosity and ended up helping relocate a 55-pound snapping turtle to a baby pool in his garage after wading through waist-deep mud to capture it.
Byers visited the cleanup site on a daily basis until May 28, when he said he was told by an Office of Public Safety officer at Lake Ruth that aquatic animals would no longer be relocated and would have to fend for themselves while workers try to work around remaining wildlife.
A university news release dated May 30 says the aquatic animals continue to be relocated, although Byers said he spoke with a scoop operator who was unsure of whether or not he had scooped up another, larger snapping turtle and buried it underneath loads of mud in a dump truck.
Visiting Lake Ruth with Byers last week, the first thing I noticed was a dead orange koi fish lying on the muddy surface of the drained lake. Three small pools had formed on top of the sediment for the remaining wildlife to call home, and we watched small fish flop around and die in mud as they tried to make it from a small pool near the lake's edge to the main pool in the center of the lake via an extremely shallow, three-inch-wide gathering of water.
Fortunately, we saw that the large snapping turtle that the scoop operator feared he may have buried was still alive, although his habitat had been reduced from a thriving lake to an approximately 15-foot by 60-foot pool with presumably small amounts of food to eat.
Byers said he has seen the larger turtle, which we named Geddy, before and estimated it to be 65 to 70 pounds and 50 years old.
Furthermore, the Western Courier received a tip during the Spring semester from a man who refused to identify himself alleging that the university was paying someone to shoo the Lake Ruth geese family away from the area prior to the cleanup.
The geese have not been present at the lake during the process, and regardless of whether they were shooed away by a person employed by the university or chose to leave the area on their own, the family has still been pushed out of its natural environment.
A 50-year-old turtle does not deserve to die in its home at the hands of a lake cleanup crew. Nor does a family of geese deserve endure the stress of finding a new place to call home, if even for a summer.
The lake will likely be kept drawn down for the entire month of June, leaving the circle of life at Lake Ruth severely damaged and the amount of food for remaining animals crippled.
Stop the ruthless endangerment of Lake Ruth wildlife. Save Geddy.
Recent Western graduate and Eagle Scout Erik Byers went to Lake Ruth when the process began May 19 out of curiosity and ended up helping relocate a 55-pound snapping turtle to a baby pool in his garage after wading through waist-deep mud to capture it.
Byers visited the cleanup site on a daily basis until May 28, when he said he was told by an Office of Public Safety officer at Lake Ruth that aquatic animals would no longer be relocated and would have to fend for themselves while workers try to work around remaining wildlife.
A university news release dated May 30 says the aquatic animals continue to be relocated, although Byers said he spoke with a scoop operator who was unsure of whether or not he had scooped up another, larger snapping turtle and buried it underneath loads of mud in a dump truck.
Visiting Lake Ruth with Byers last week, the first thing I noticed was a dead orange koi fish lying on the muddy surface of the drained lake. Three small pools had formed on top of the sediment for the remaining wildlife to call home, and we watched small fish flop around and die in mud as they tried to make it from a small pool near the lake's edge to the main pool in the center of the lake via an extremely shallow, three-inch-wide gathering of water.
Fortunately, we saw that the large snapping turtle that the scoop operator feared he may have buried was still alive, although his habitat had been reduced from a thriving lake to an approximately 15-foot by 60-foot pool with presumably small amounts of food to eat.
Byers said he has seen the larger turtle, which we named Geddy, before and estimated it to be 65 to 70 pounds and 50 years old.
Furthermore, the Western Courier received a tip during the Spring semester from a man who refused to identify himself alleging that the university was paying someone to shoo the Lake Ruth geese family away from the area prior to the cleanup.
The geese have not been present at the lake during the process, and regardless of whether they were shooed away by a person employed by the university or chose to leave the area on their own, the family has still been pushed out of its natural environment.
A 50-year-old turtle does not deserve to die in its home at the hands of a lake cleanup crew. Nor does a family of geese deserve endure the stress of finding a new place to call home, if even for a summer.
The lake will likely be kept drawn down for the entire month of June, leaving the circle of life at Lake Ruth severely damaged and the amount of food for remaining animals crippled.
Stop the ruthless endangerment of Lake Ruth wildlife. Save Geddy.
Viewing Comments 1 - 7 of 7
Bob Intrieri
posted 6/18/08 @ 12:00 PM CST
I was flabbergasted and dismayed to read Zach Wingerter's article on the neglect of wildlife at Lake Ruth. I think we have a responsibility as stewards of our community to respond to this issue. (Continued…)
Shameful !
posted 6/18/08 @ 12:59 PM CST
This is absolutely shameful!
What is President Goldfarb's response to this ????
Immediate corrective action is needed now!
Tom
posted 6/18/08 @ 1:12 PM CST
This story got me thinking...
Has anyone ever ate turtle? It is actually quite good and full of proteins. The turtles should be salvaged for the nutritional value. (Continued…)
Yum
posted 6/18/08 @ 2:57 PM CST
Geddy was delicious, in a stew. Thank you, scoop operator.
News?
posted 6/29/08 @ 11:27 PM CST
This was run in the news section? It is written in first person..I know it's summer but let's have some standards. Especially with the title it would have made a great column. (Continued…)
Column
posted 6/30/08 @ 5:46 PM CST
It's a column accompanying the news story next to it on the front page.
Can't keep everyone happy
posted 7/03/08 @ 3:57 PM CST
A first it was people complaining about the algae in the lake and wanted it to be clean for health reason. Now people are crying because the workers aren't done yet. (Continued…)
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