The discovery of a trio of dead ducks has prompted worries that President Donald Trump’s $16 million overhaul of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool has a fatal flaw.
A local wildlife organization collected two deceased ducks, found at a pond adjacent to the pool Sunday. The same day, a Washington Examiner journalist documented another dead adolescent duck floating in shadow of the Lincoln Memorial. The presence of deceased waterfowl has sparked speculation of toxic algae, sometimes known as blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria, in the lime-green gunk that swiftly proliferated after the Trump administration installed a commercial pool liner earlier last month.
There is no confirmation of the potentially harmful algae in the pool, but City Wildlife — a leading local wildlife rehabilitation organization that collected the birds Sunday — plans to perform necropsies to help gauge if the birds could have been affected by the pool renovation.
The duck discoveries come amid near-daily drama at the normally placid memorial, where a no-bid renovation contract, an infusion of unsightly algae, peeling paint and public arrests have captured public attention in recent weeks. The president raises the issue of the renovation when he speaks to the press and has asserted criminal actions are at fault for many of the current problems at the pool.
