Germany: salmon goes crazy after being addicted to cocaine

It was in June 2020 when a fishery officer from the Kirchhundem municipality agency observed atypical behavior in animals, bred for a species conservation project.

After performing an analysis of water samples from the stream and pond, pesticides have been found in agriculture and leftover pharmaceuticals from sewage, all in small amounts. In addition, Researchers discovered two substances that caught their attention: cocaine and benzoylecgonine, a product used to break down the narcotic.

“The salmon were trying to jump out of the water in panic”said Daniel Fey, head of the Department of Fisheries Ecology and Aquaculture, quoted by Der Spiegel.

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According to the specialist, this behavior indicated contamination of the inlet water, which the fish instinctively wanted to avoid. “The next day, the salmon returned to their usual behavior” and suffered no permanent damage, he added.

Although experts did not detect drugs in the tank itself, it could be due to the high degree of dilution in the facility.. “It has not been possible to find a clear cause for the behavior of the fish. However, a reaction to cocaine detected in the water of the stream cannot be excluded,” the state agency said in a recent report. .

We still don’t know who threw the narcotic in the water. Agency employees discovered an illegal sewage discharge into the creek, but police could not determine its origin.