Being a desert and all, The Coachella Valley is known for being home to many things: sand, ridiculous summer heat, and crusty old people. Who knew that The Desert was also home to a crusty creature of another variety: crustaceans.
CBS Local 2 reports that The Coachella Valley Preserve not only has crawfish in their pond – but, according the the preserve’s oasis manager Ginny Short, the place is being overrun with them!
“They have actually threatened every native species in these waters”
…
“We have about 40 traps that we’re running and right now we’re really just working on control. We’re doing a number of experiments to see if we can find something else that will work to eradicate them but they’re very hardy.”
But how in the hell does a crawfish make its way into the desert of Southern California? The rumor is that back in the 1950’s, a boy scout troop thought it would be fun to put them in the water and see what happens. Now, over 60 years later, it is still happening!
Most of the crawfish that is caught is “humanely euthanized”(?) and fed to local wildlife – but some are taken home by volunteers…
“If you’re a volunteer up here I do often allow my volunteers to take them to eat them.”
Sounds like volunteering has never been more delicious.
(video embedded below may not show up on all platforms – click here to watch on KESQ site, if you are unable to view)
