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Mark Kehoe was heading out for a hike last month in Upper Vaughan, N.S., when he was stopped in his tracks by a fetid pond of brown sludge that had been dumped on grassy Crown land.
His nauseating discovery — believed to be the contents of a septic tank — is now under investigation by the province’s Department of Natural Resources.
“It was extremely foul and it was fresh,” said Kehoe, 52. “I knew it had been dumped there within the last 24 hours or so because it was still a very heavy, thick, liquefied slurry.”
Kehoe notified his local MLA and returned to the scene of the slime nine days later where he noticed what was embedded in the now-dried substance: hundreds of needles and needle cartridges.
“I knew at that point it was a real biohazard,” said Kehoe, who works in the horticulture industry.
While the area is used recreationally by residents and surrounded by wildlife, Kehoe said locals are used to people tossing their garbage in the woods. This dumping, however, is unusual.
“This was an absolute first for this level of, well, disgusting. I can’t believe it was put in the woods. I don’t know how anyone has the nerve to drop something like that in the woods,” he said.
‘It was absolutely full of needles and the little cartridges for whatever they’re putting in the needles. It was loaded with that type of debris,’ said Kehoe. (Mark Kehoe)
Blaise Theriault, a spokesperson for the Department of Natural Resources, said in a statement the site was cleaned up and remediated on July 6.
“A certified company was required to do the work,” said Theriault.
Kehoe said he’s pleased to know the area has been cleaned up, and he’s hopeful whoever dumped the waste will be caught.
“There was animal tracks that had gone through it. A mother bear and her cub had walked right through the middle of it over top of all the needles. It is impactful to the area and it’s obviously destructive to the environment,” he said.
People who dump on Crown land can be fined $812 for a first offence and up to $2,422 for further violations.
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