This shot pulled from a security camera video shows three men walking around the Devils Hole unit of Death Valley National Park/NPS
In a bid to arrest those responsible for vandalizing a warm spring with an endangered fish species, Death Valley National Park officials on Monday released a short video showing three men riding up to the Devils Hole unit of the park in an off-road vehicle and roaming around the grounds. Part of the video is from a camera in the warm spring itself. That segment shows one of the men in the water.
At least one pupfish was killed in the incident.
"At around 7:20 p.m. on Saturday, April 30, three men in an OHV drove off-road around a gate at the Devils Hole parking lot. They discharged a firearm at least 10 times, shooting locks on two gates, a motion sensor on the security system, and several signs," a park release issued Monday read. "One man swam in Devils Hole and left his boxer shorts behind in the water. Alcohol was involved; three beer cans were left behind and one man vomited.
"The OHV appeared to be a blue Yahama Rhino, which had been extensively customized with an added seat and safety cage," the release added. "A reward of up to $5,000 is available for information leading to arrest and conviction in this case."
Tips can be reported to the National Park Service's Investigative Services Branch at:
888-653-0009
https:www.surveymonkey.com/r/TipLine_InvestigativeServicesNPS
www.facebook.com/InvestigativeServicesNPS
The Devils Hole pupfish is something of an aquatic wonder, managing to live in a relatively small hot spring, one that denies them the ability to migrate up or down stream. Rather, they congregate in the spring, rising up to a small shelf of rock just beneath the water's surface both to feed and breed. While 40 acres around the spring, which isn't actually within the formal borders of Death Valley National Park but rather off to the east, were set aside in 1952 to protect the hot spring and its inhabitants, a fight over groundwater led to a 1976 Supreme Court ruling that the Park Service was entitled to a specific water right to maintain the hot spring for the fish.
Devils Hole pupfish populations numbered about 400-500 individuals until the late 1960s, when the water level in the pool dropped in response to pumping of nearby irrigation wells, according to the USGS.
As described in a UC Berkeley news release, the Devils Hole pupfish (Cyprinodon diabolis) is "considered the world's rarest fish, with one of the smallest geographic ranges of any wild vertebrate..."
This is a shot of the warm springs at Devils Hole/NPS
Comments
For additional incentive, the Center for Bio Diversity is offering an additional $15,000 reward on top of the NPS reward. So you can get an easy $20K by narcing out these jerks. Go for it!
I've never been to DV or Devils Hole but I am currious. Given this is supposed to be preserving a special place why is there all this equipment, stairs, platforms.... erected on this site?
BTW - interesting video re Devils Hole here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6h82PIi_-0&feature=email
EC, the fencing, platform and stairs are due to the critically endangered Devils Hole pupfish. The stairs and platform allow USFWS and NPS personnel to monitor the pupfish and their habitat.
This is a complex issue. First, the men that did this should be punished. Second, it's great that rare things like this are being preserved. Third, something like this that is being preserved because of rarity needs to be made so I, and everyone else, can go see if whenever we want. If you can make the budget to monitor it, pay rewards and prosecute vandalism, Have king O quit spending billions on vacations and campaigning and spend a few hundred thousand to have a full time docent there. IT'S JUST WRONG TO LOCK UP MY AMERICA FROM ME FOR ONLY A FEW PRIVILEGED RESEARCHES TO SEE.
I think what they did socks. But how about they use the reward money to beef up the security of the place so it us less likely to happen again.
Once, not so long ago (the 1970s), the California condor was down to 25 animals--or thereabouts. The few eggs available were spirited away to a laboratory in Santa Cruz and carefully incubated--and the species survived. There are now about 300 condors, some back in the wild. Question for the day: Is 300 condors enough?
If not, what is the number? That is what we should be asking every time a government official tells us that a species is no longer "endangered." By whose definition? And for what purpose? The latest example, just last week, was the Administration telling us that eagle deaths are no big deal. No, the Interior Department didn't use the term big deal, but they did say that wind farms should be allowed to kill four times more eagles than currently. That's like saying no big deal to me, since yes, condors are now out there, too.
Every day, practically, we are told to fear climate change and not reminded to fear ourselves. The animals will adjust to climate change, but will they adjust to the industrialization of the West? The condor was not able to adjust to development; what is the threshold for when we lose eagles, hawks, owls, and bats?
Just asking, since I find it incredible than everyone is worried about the desert pupfish. So am I. It has lost 400 animals since the 1970s. The point is: Why should our worrying end there? 50 years ago, eagles were on the brink, as well. Is everything so healthy now we can have quotas again for wildlife deaths?
Again, just my question for the day, now that I am seeing reports this morning of a tremendous increase in green energy. We're green, all right, but are we ethical? Speaking of which, unless you are Native American, don't you dare pick up and take home an eagle feather. Your government will throw you in jail and/or fine you--and the fine, I'm told, isn't cheap. If you're going to kill an eagle, do it in the name of preventing climate change. Then your government will bless you for being green.
Sorry Kurt, seems counter productive. What exactly does "monitoring" do and what exactly is the threat, other than natural causes?
Monitoring helps gain a better understanding of the species, as well as tracks its continued existence on Earth. That might not appeal to you, but it does to others. And it's required under the ESA. Obviously, in light of recent events, part of the threat are humans.