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Berkeley Pit Water May Kill Hundreds of Snow Geese

An estimated 10,000 geese landed in the pit during a snow storm last week

By Associated Press

BUTTE — Montana Resources officials say hundreds of migrating snow geese that landed in the acidic waters of the Berkeley Pit may die.

An estimated 10,000 geese landed on the pit during a snow storm last Monday night. MR environmental affairs manager Mark Thompson told The Montana Standard that about 90 percent of the birds have left, but a few hundred stragglers remained on Friday.

Some of the birds have died and company officials say things don’t look good for the remaining birds that have resisted hazing.

During a 1995 snow storm, more than 340 geese landed on the water contaminated with mine waste and died.

Thompson says MR officials have been working since Monday night trying to haze the birds off the water. He says MR will look into adding speakers to a drone to haze birds in the future.