Death Zone

Yes, a pretty nondescript picture. Last night, we drove through this, the Baskett Slough Refuge, on one of our nightly drives to watch the geese and other birds. To our horror, in this spot, where it had obviously been sprayed with herbicide to kill the grass (no idea why), we found 25-30 dead geese. It seems obvious that they all died from ingestion of tainted grass. We were shocked and heartbroken. When we got back here today, all of the carcasses were gone, but I am not letting this die. We will be in contact with the administration of the refuge, and I will take the story to the Salem newspaper, The Statesman Journal. I do know that the refuge farms out parts of its property, but something happened here. This is a quote from their management page on their website: " The National Wildlife Refuge System is the only network of federal lands dedicated specifically to preservation of wildlife and their habitats. Only activities considered compatible with the preservation of wildlife and their habitats are allowed." 

Something didn't work. I'll keep you posted on what we find. This is unacceptable.