Roughly 30 blue herons have been found dead at an oil sands site north of Fort McMurray. The Alberta Energy Regulator now has investigators at the Syncrude Canada Mildred Lake Mine to figure out how the birds died.
One heron was found alive Wednesday but had to be euthanized. The rest were found dead in a run off pond that had bitumen in with the rainwater. Part of the AER’s investigation will be into whether the bitumen in the water was there naturally or through the plant’s operations.
There are already wildlife deterrent measures in place after other bird deaths at all oil sands mines.