BEND, Ore. — Wildlife officials and volunteers are rescuing fish stranded in a side channel of the Deschutes River near Bend.
The rescue Friday came in response to a fish kill last October, when 3,000 fish perished. The fish were stranded as water in the side channel dwindled.
The Bend Bulletin reports state and federal employees this year used electro-shock backpacks to stun fish and nets to scoop them into buckets. Volunteers passed the buckets, equipped with aerators to keep oxygen levels up, to the main stem of the Deschutes.
Organizers said the rescue effort led to more than 1,300 fish making it back into the river. They included 1,000 juvenile rainbow trout, 61 kokanee, seven brown trout, 20 white fish and about 300 sculpin.
Officials plan another rescue for next week.
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