{"id":819411,"date":"2026-08-20T02:22:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T02:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/819411\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T02:22:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T02:22:11","slug":"dead-ducks-fish-at-dusable-harbor-downtown-chicago-prompt-calls-for-investigation-in-lake-michigan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/819411\/","title":{"rendered":"Dead ducks, fish at DuSable Harbor downtown Chicago prompt calls for investigation in Lake Michigan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao MvWXB TjIXL aGjvy ebVHC \">CHICAGO (WLS) &#8212; Volunteers with Chicago Bird Collision Monitors say they have reported multiple dead birds and fish at DuSable Harbor to state wildlife officials and are seeking answers about what may be causing the deaths.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Timothy Dooling, who visits the harbor to watch wildlife, said he returned after a storm at the end of July and found several dead ducks floating in the water, northeast of Millennium Park in Lake Michigan.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/abc7chicago.com\/watch\/live\/11064984\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24\/7. Click here to watch<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;There were maybe five ducks dead at that point, floating in different points in the harbor,&#8221; Dooling said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Dooling said he has since seen several more dead ducks floating near vegetation in water littered with debris. He said he reported what he saw to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and contacted Chicago Bird Collision Monitors.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Oli Yuzlenko, a volunteer with the organization, met Dooling at the harbor last week. She said she saw multiple dead birds as well as dead fish. Yuzlenko said she recovered a sick duck Tuesday that died hours later.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">RELATED: <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/abc7chicago.com\/post\/open-air-chicago-sensors-tracking-pollution-city-largest-network-kind-us\/19176297\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sensors tracking air pollution in Chicago make up largest network of its kind in US<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The birds are transported to a wildlife center in DuPage County, but Yuzlenko said the center does not have the resources to conduct testing. She said she also contacted IDNR.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;We can only speculate because there is no test done. It could be chemicals; it could be naturally occurring toxin that started building up,&#8221; Yuzlenko said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Yuzlenko said testing is needed to determine what is causing the deaths. She said the deaths have continued into a third week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;Maybe not everybody needs to care about the birds but there are people who do and this is not just a one-off incident. It&#8217;s a very concentrated event,&#8221; Yuzlenko said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Dooling said the conditions at the harbor are troubling beyond the wildlife deaths.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;I&#8217;d say it&#8217;s not a good look for the city: the trash, the scum on the surface, the dead fish and water fowl,&#8221; Dooling said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC eTIW sUzSN \">The IDNR did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright \u00a9 2026 WLS-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHICAGO (WLS) &#8212; Volunteers with Chicago Bird Collision Monitors say they have reported multiple dead birds and fish&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":819412,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[347497,79,201],"class_list":["post-819411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-347497","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=819411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819411\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/819412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=819411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=819411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=819411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}