4-6-11: Giant Salamanders Vanishing Across Appalachia

You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.

110406EIF.mp3

Photo: Neil Ever Osborne, International League of Conservation Photographers.

Hellbenders, rare and elusive salamanders as long as a man's arm, are disappearing across Appalachia because of acidic water pollution from coal mines. The nocturnal bottom-feeders survive in only two waterways in Western Maryland, including the Casselman River. But right next to the river, the largest deep mine in Maryland is scheduled to open next month and release 144,000 gallons of water a day into the Casselman.