Residents Say Animals Left Suffering In Land Park Pond Restoration Project

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) - A reconstruction project taking place at two local ponds has nearby neighbors upset.

They claim the city is neglecting the wildlife that call the ponds home.

"Anybody who uses the park knows the six or seven domestic geese that have been there for years and they're the usuals," said Katy Grimes, a longtime Land Park resident.

Grimes considers the wildlife in boat lake pond like her own.

"We have had a lot of ducks and geese that end up with fishing line wrapped around their legs -- some we have caught and helped," Grimes added.

Grimes says she hasn't seen the same compassion coming from the city since it began its restoration project at boat lake pond in Land Park.

"Yesterday when we were over there, there were two inches left in the pond and gigantic carp were left over there dying."

CBS13 spoke with the project manager off-camera, who says the pond was full of muck and debris and needs to be dredged to improve water quality for wildlife that call the pond home.

It's part of the same project that has crews cleaning out the pond in McKinley Park.

According to the project manager, the city has partnered with different agencies to relocate the geese, ducks, fish and turtles from both ponds.

The Front Street Animal Shelter in Sacramento has been taking in the red-eared slider turtles -- an invasive species which the city says is destroying the habitat in Land Park and McKinley Park.

"We have had roughly about seven turtles, many of which have been burrowing into the mud," said Bobby Mann, Public Relations Coordinator for the shelter.

Mann said there were six additional turtles that were rescued from boat lake pond on Monday.

The turtles get scrubbed down and then placed into a tub as they wait to be adopted, said Mann.

Some residents expressed concern over the goslings being trapped inside the fence, but the city says it postponed this project from July until September so the foul would be able to fly out on their own.

As for the fish, the project manager says most were rounded up in buckets and placed in neighboring ponds.

City officials expect the restoration project to be completed by January.