After Parasite Kills 80 Ducks, NPS Is Draining The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool
BY RACHEL SADON IN NEWS ON JUN 9, 2017 3:41 PM

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About 80 ducklings have been found dead in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool since May 20, the victims of "high levels of parasites that develop and grow in snails that live in the pool," according to the National Park Service. The Reflecting Pool will be fully drained beginning on Tuesday so that crews can completely clean out the bottom. Work should be completed by next Friday.

The snails aren't new, but the high levels of the parasite certainly are.

"There have been snails in there for as long as anyone can remember. The aquatic environment is a perfect habitat for them," says NPS spokesperson Mike Litterst. "But why now as opposed to any other time? We're probably really never going to know why now or what the cause of this was."

The dead ducklings first turned up on May 20. Over the course of two days, 54 were found floating in the pool. (This is not the reflecting pool that recently added a duck ramp to help mallards in and out of the water—that'd be the Capitol Reflecting Pool.)