D-CAAL: Experiments Kill Even More Animals

Friday, March 11, 2011

Experiments Kill Even More Animals

Last year in the month of July, newspapers all over the Delaware Valley reported the celebratory reopening of the canal to the joyful cries of the people inhabiting all the little towns from Easton to Bristol, PA. The Philadelphia Inquirer's reporter Larry King wrote on July 24, 2010, the following:

EASTON, Pa. - In the festive presence of kayakers, speechmakers, bicyclists, and a straw-hatted woman joyously blatting on a conch-shell horn, a storm-tossed relationship was renewed Friday. Water and the Delaware Canal, after a six-year separation, are together again. Standing at the head of the 58.9-mile canal, by the scenic convergence of the Lehigh and Delaware Rivers, state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary John Quigley opened a stop gate and the Lehigh current flowed again into the historic waterway.The "rewatering" ceremony marks the first time the canal - except for a small, leaky span in New Hope - is being filled end-to-end since 2004."It is being brought back to life today," Quigley said.Actually, the vital signs have been strengthening for some time. The Delaware-fed stretch of the canal south of New Hope has held water since spring, and the Easton-to-Raubsville stretch had been test-filled in June. It will take about a week for the rest of it to fill, said Rick Dalton, Delaware Canal State Park manager. (http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/20100724_Ceremony_marks__quot_rewatering_quot__of_the_Delaware_Canal.html)

Is it really fair to keep running experiments, or better said keep filling the canal for the sake of appearances, as was done last summer when the canal was opened at Easton and the water allowed to travel the entire distance to well below New Hope? As of November 2010, thirty miles worth of animals who were unable to escape were dead. They cannot swim in 1-2 inches of water to safety, they cannot escape the burning summer sun, and if they could crawl away how far could they get? Certainly not beyond the fairly recently inadequately constructed, broken but very expensive aqueduct by the Locktender's house in New Hope. That's the aqueduct that stands directly in front of the nose of some very, very important people, mind you. We'll discuss that very soon. Stay tuned...

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Delaware Canal State Park Reptile & Amphibian Species List

Amphibians

Common NameScientific Name Northern cricket frog Acris crepitans crepitans, American toad Bufo americanus, Fowlers toad Bufo fowleri, Northern two-lined salamander Eurycea bislineata bislineata, Redbacked salamander Plethodon cinereus, Slimy salamander Plethodon g. glutinosus, New Jersey chorus frog Pseudacris triseriata kalmi, Bullfrog Rana catesbeiana, Green frog Rana clamitans melanota, Northern pickerel Rana palustris, Wood frog Rana sylvatica.

Reptiles

Common NameScientific Name Northern copperhead Agkistrodon contortrix mokasen, Snapping turtle Chelydra serpentina, Eastern painted turtle Chrysemys picta picta, Northern black racer Coluber constrictor constrictor, Northern ringneck snake Diadophis punctatus edwardsi, Map turtle Graptemys geographica, Eastern milk snake Lampropeltis triangulum triangulum, Northern water snake Nerodia sipedon sipedon, Red-bellied turtle Pseudemys rubriventris, Eastern box turtle Terrapene carolina carolina, Eastern garter snake Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis.

(DCNR, http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/parks/delawarecanal/delawarecanal_herps.aspx)

Who we are:

We are a group of concerned individuals whose voices are speaking out for the rights of the silent minority: all of the animals of the Delaware Canal and its surroundings. We are not yet a powerful group but we are adding to our numbers everyday. Our mission is to stop the forced filling and refilling of the Delaware Canal on the Pennsylvania side from Easton to New Hope unless it is completely and competently repaired. Our aim is to bring awareness and educate the people of the Delaware Valley, the Lehigh Valley, Philadelphia and surrounding areas, as well as all those who come to Southeastern Pennsylvania as tourists, and have them voluntarily join our ranks against the repetitive injustice that occurs each year.

Beware, all is not what it appears to be!

The water that comes flowing down each spring or summer from the northern reaches of the Delaware River by Easton into the canal is a forced mission by certain local monied groups who through their funding and personal connections in the government strong-arm the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) into complying with the reopening of the headgate at Easton and various locks that join the canal to the Delaware River without ever having completed any repair on the canal. This is done for the sake of tourism, making the little river towns look cute and more inviting for shoppers and other visitors.

By winter every year, the canal bed is dry and filled with dead turtles, fish, mussels, and giant snails.

Links

D-CAAL Our main site.
Greenpeace The leading independent campaigning organization that uses peaceful direct action and creative communication to expose global environmental problems and to promote solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future.
Sea Shepherd Established in 1977, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) is an international non-profit, marine wildlife conservation organization. Our mission is to end the destruction of habitat and slaughter of wildlife in the world's oceans in order to conserve and protect ecosystems and species.
PETA PETA's animal rights campaigns include ending fur and leather use meat and dairy consumption fishing hunting trapping factory farming circuses bull fighting rodeos and animal experimentation.