PORT ORANGE, Fla. — Wildlife experts, biologists, and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission are investigating after several animals were found dead in the Port Orange City Center Lake this week.
- Dead birds, turtle found at Port Orange City Center Lake
- The dead animals were found by a walking group
- FWC says testing is done, but experts are waiting for results
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According to a spokesperson for the city of Port Orange, on Monday their police department collected one deceased turtle and five deceased birds, one of which was a seagull and the others were either anhingas or cormorants.
They were them taken to the Marine Science Center in Ponce Inlet, where they were shipped out on Thursday to a lab where necropsies will be performed.
The birds and turtle were discovered by a walking group that goes around the lake every week day.
“Well last week we were walking and you know, of course we were talking and talking, and we spotted a dead turtle… it was just very unusual,” said Shelly Fister.
Shortly after, that they spotted the first dead bird.
"We didn’t think anything of it. We thought OK, it is sad they were gone, and we thought, OK it was just a fluke thing," Fister said. "That was over the weekend, and then on Monday, we started to walk, and we saw more dead animals and the sick duck not acting right on the bank.”
It was at this point the group realized something was not right. Fister started taking pictures and alerting the city.
“These animals keep dying. They are disappearing, but what is going on? Because the next day, the next couple days, there would be more dead animals, and so we were just really concerned," Fister said.
Fister explained that she understands things like this can happen, but she has never seen it to this scale. She hopes it can be fixed.
“There has been a couple times when the algae got really bad, and they had dead fish, and then they rectified that and got the water balanced or whatever they had to do. So that hasn’t been for a long time," Fister said. "This is the first time I've seen dead animals.”
At this point, the FWC confirmed testing is being done, but until that is completed sometime next week, they will not be able to tell what caused this.
“Who is responsible for the wildlife, you know? We talked to a few people, and I guess everybody thinks it is the other person’s responsibility," Fister said. "Well it needs to be someone’s responsibility."