The Ohio Department of Natural Resources estimates that more than 43,000 animals have died in and around East Palestine, Ohio as a result of the toxic train derailment earlier this month. So how concerning is this? I spoke with Canton Repository reporter, Paige Bennett to find out. Paige, welcome to 5 Things.
Paige Bennett: "Hi. Thanks for having me."
Taylor Wilson: "Thanks for being here. Officials in Ohio have released data on how many animals died in the wake of the East Palestine derailment. Paige, what do the numbers say?"
Paige Bennett:"We found out recently from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources that about 43,000 fish died in the train derailment in East Palestine. Of that 43,000, about 38,000 of them were minnows, and then there were about 5,500 other species, which included fish, crayfish and amphibians"
Taylor Wilson:"How did officials actually calculate these numbers?"
Paige Bennett:"They have been on the ground since the days following the derailment, and they set up four different stations where they were doing collections in the waterways around East Palestine. From their initial observations, they had gotten a number of around 3,500 dead fish through sampling. Their actual sample number ended up being slightly below that, but they took that sample number and then applied it to a mathematical calculation to get that 43,000 number."
Taylor Wilson:"Paige, what do we know about animals who eat other animals that might have been poisoned from this disaster?"
Paige Bennett:"Officials are saying that there's no concern right now about any of the land animals that were in contact with any of these animals. There's been some anecdotal reports of animals in and around the area getting sick and dying, but no official word on anything like that. They did have three dead birds and an opossum that were from the area that they sent to the Department of Agriculture for testing. But those came back negative of any chemical poisoning, so there's no concern of that right now."
Taylor Wilson:"Can we expect any other issues for animals in the area in the coming months and years from this disaster?"