A man who shoots at birds to keep them off a toxic pit [video]
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Re: A man who shoots at birds to keep them off a toxic pit [video]
#2Tom Scott made a great video on this: https://youtu.be/n-Ej2EtE744
Re: A man who shoots at birds to keep them off a toxic pit [video]
#3It's hard to read in this format, but I recommend Kate Beaton's comic, "Ducks". https://beatonna.tumblr.com/post/81993262830/here-is-a-sketc...
Re: A man who shoots at birds to keep them off a toxic pit [video]
#4I'm wondering why they don't fire up the original pump system that drained the pit back in the mining days?
Re: A man who shoots at birds to keep them off a toxic pit [video]
#5I'm wondering why they don't fire up the original pump system that drained the pit back in the mining days?
I wondered the same thing. I imagine it's because it used to pump the water out before it became toxic from absorbing the metals.
Re: A man who shoots at birds to keep them off a toxic pit [video]
#6It's frustrating that the description of the video and the first few seconds of the video both establish a narrative of "acid cooking birds from the inside out" if they spend a few hours in the water, which makes absolutley zero sense.
At no point in the entire video is that claim revisisted or explained.
Re: A man who shoots at birds to keep them off a toxic pit [video]
#7I'm wondering why they don't fire up the original pump system that drained the pit back in the mining days?
I wondered the same thing. I imagine it's because it used to pump the water out before it became toxic from absorbing the metals.
That was my first thought too. They are spending so much money on gear and employing someone full time - wouldn't it be cheaper to just drain it? There must be a reason they aren't doing it.
Also, he can't be there 24 hours - what happens if a bird lands on the water at night?
Re: A man who shoots at birds to keep them off a toxic pit [video]
#8It's frustrating that the description of the video and the first few seconds of the video both establish a narrative of "acid cooking birds from the inside out " if they spend a few hours in the water, which makes absolutley zero sense. At no point in the entire video is that claim revisisted or explained.
Migrating birds stopping to rest in water tend to drink the water. Once inside the body, if the water is too acidic, it begins breaking down cell walls and denaturing proteins. These actions are analogous to cooking.
Re: A man who shoots at birds to keep them off a toxic pit [video]
#9It's frustrating that the description of the video and the first few seconds of the video both establish a narrative of "acid cooking birds from the inside out " if they spend a few hours in the water, which makes absolutley zero sense. At no point in the entire video is that claim revisisted or explained.
Migrating birds stopping to rest in water tend to drink the water. Once inside the body, if the water is too acidic, it begins breaking down cell walls and denaturing proteins. These actions are analogous to cooking.
Except that the photos of injury they showed were damage to the duck's feet - i.e. not part of the digestive tract, and very much part of the body that's submerged in water the entire time the bird floats on a lake.
Re: A man who shoots at birds to keep them off a toxic pit [video]
#10I'm wondering why they don't fire up the original pump system that drained the pit back in the mining days?
In the Tom Scott video linked upthread, they cover this. The pit is being used as a hydraulic control device-collecting all the badness from a ridiculously vast (~10,000 miles) network of tunnels into one huge dilute volume. Then, they pipe it out to a water treatment plant and then back to the pit. They’ve been able to raise the pH from mid-2 to mid-4 this way.