Fish wriggling on dry land. Where once there was water, there is now only mud: the barbarians have drained a lake – with devastating consequences.
Unknown persons drained the water from a five-hectare bathing and fishing lake in Hohenlockstedt in the district of Steinburg. As a police spokeswoman told t-online Thursday, the perpetrators must have come Wednesday night.
“They probably used heavy tools to open a hydrant that had blocked a drain,” the spokeswoman said. The water splashed from the Lohmühleteich into the Rantzau.
The pond itself has almost completely dried up, only water remained in some deeper places. The tenant Ralf Kühl was informed by a fisherman at noon. Cool reached out to people on social media with a cry for help. The firefighters also arrived.
In the lake there were eels, perch, whitefish, pike, carp and tench
The helpers collected the dead fish with buckets and landing nets and carried the still alive ones from the dry areas to the deep ones. Kai Bussinger, fire chief of Hohenlockstedt, told a reporter at the scene that there were probably several thousand fish in the lake. “Of course it’s stupid to find something like that. Fish are living beings, just like humans.”
How many fish died is still unclear. According to the police, only a few dozen were collected, but there could be more.
“Since the perpetrators not only turned on the hydrant, but also opened a metal grate in the overflow, many fish could have entered the Rantzau from the Lohmühleteich,” said the police spokeswoman. In any case, the tenant’s cooling suffered immense economic damage: according to him, there were eels, perch, whitefish, pike, carp and tench in the lake.
A spawning carp is worth around 200 euros, the police spokeswoman said. Officials are now investigating the case. It was said that the Lohmühlenteich would only regain its water level from the adjacent Reetteich.
