Local News

Thousands of Fish Killed Due to Disease

Managers at a fish hatchery in northeastern Oregon had to euthanize 42,000 rainbow trout recently because the were infected with a virus. Spokesman Ron Harrod at the Wallowa hatchery says they killed the fish and buried them on Thursday.  “It is a lot of fish. The thing of it is; we're going to try and move on. It’s a one time deal here at the hatchery. We haven't had it happen before, and hopefully it won't happen again. We're going to take precautions and bring in some test fish and monitor those for the next couple of years and we may be back to normal at that point."  The trout were killed to keep the virus from spreading to other fish. Harrod says the virus is common in waters of the Snake River Basin, and is not harmful to humans. As a result of this outbreak, the hatchery will cut its trout production from 50,000 fish per year to 20,000 using a second water source where the virus is not present.

 

 

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