Carolina Waterfowl Rescuing Wildlife from Oil Spill, Warning Park Goers

CHARLOTTE, NC — “We’ve been picking up birds from Freedom Park since about Wednesday from a diesel spill that went down little Sugar Creek,” said Carolina Waterfowl Rescue Director Jennifer Gordon.

Another batch of ducks are getting a bath and medical care at Carolina Waterfowl Rescue. These are some of the lucky ones that survived. Director Jennifer Gordon says several others were found dead.

“We also found a great blue heron that had oil that we couldn’t catch, and we been picking up turtles. We’ve probably got about 10 turtles so far and today we starting finding the fish are all dying off too,” said Gordon.

Wednesday 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel leaked from a generator at the NASCAR Plaza in Uptown, and traveled about four miles down Sugar Creek to Park Road Shopping Center.

“I saw people that had kids next to the creek by Freedom Park, actually playing in the creek,” said Troy Tomlinson with Carolina Waterfowl Rescue.

Tomlinson has been walking the creek rescuing animals and says his biggest concern is no signs or warnings to people to stay away. People like Mark Greenwald, out for a stroll, didn’t know before it was too late.

“Our dog here, Archie, unfortunately did jump in earlier and we ran into someone who said there was an issue, so we’re going to take him home and scrub him up and get him clean,” said Greenwald.

Exactly why Gordon says as people head out over the weekend, they need to be aware and cautious.

“We need to get the word out and let people know that they need to stay out of the creek and stay out of water. And I can’t imagine eating a fish out of that,” said Gordon.

Charlotte Stormwater says 75 percent of the oil is redeemed, and the company who owns the building is spraying enzymes in the creek, making the fuel harmless. Carolina Waterfowl Rescue says they desperately need activated charcoal. They ran out and all vets are closed.