As of: February 4, 2024, 9:47 p.m
By: Karolin Schaefer
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Numerous fish have died in Thuringia.
A video on Facebook shows the extent.
There are initial assumptions about the cause.
Wechmar – Thousands of dead fish floated in front of the Wechmar dam in the Gotha district (Thuringia) on Wednesday (January 31st).
Anglers discovered the dead animals.
For the Citizens’ Initiative Habitat Apfelstädt, the incident is “unbelievable and full-blown madness”.
Thousands of fish die when water is released from a dam in Thuringia.
© Screenshot Facebook/Lebensraum-Apfelstädt
Dead fish discovered in front of the dam: Possible details about the cause
As recently as 2022, 160 tons of dead fish were floating in the Oder.
There were around 10,000 animals in the dam.
The reason for the deaths of the animals may be an error in the monthly water drainage.
The Thuringian Long-Distance Water Supply (TFW) releases water from the lowest point of the dam every month to check the safety of the system.
This was reported by the
Thüringer Allgemeine.
The initiative announced in a statement that the fish that were currently in their winter storage were swept away.
A video on Facebook shows the incident in front of the dam.
Thousands of fish floated motionless in the water.
They were pressed against a grid by the piping of the reservoir and died “in agony”.
Ten thousand dead fish in Thuringia: Citizens' initiative initiates legal action
The TFW confirmed to the
Thüringer Allgemeine
that a large number of the animals had been swept away.
After employees noticed this while draining the water, the closures were immediately closed again.
The security check was canceled.
The fish were later partially recovered from the water by the State Anglers Association (LAVT).
We are now investigating how this could have happened.
The citizens' initiative still wants to take action against it.
As the
MDR
reported, the incident had already been reported to the Gotha district office.
Hundreds of dead fish have also been discovered on the Saale.
Numerous animals also died after the explosion of a Berlin aquarium.