CALGARY SUN (Alberta) 06 August 03 Salamanders Keep McKenzie Hopping (Nadia Moharib)
McKenzie Towne residents had to cope with an amphibious assault early yesterday when an army of salamanders laid siege to the southeast community.
Residents believe the tiger salamanders converged on the streets from a nearby pond -- some strolled on sidewalks, others frolicked in rainwater, and about a dozen citizens returned them to the pond by the bucketful.
"I mean there were hundreds and hundreds, it was like the invasion of the mini-dinosaurs, there were buckets and buckets," said Mark Trenholm, who joined the late night rescue.
"They were on the grass, walking on the sidewalks, they were everywhere and we were trying to get them off the road and putting them back in their habitat (the pond) because people coming in cars were killing them."
The tiger is one of two salamanders in Alberta, the other being the long-toed salamander found in the Foothills.
The tiger's widespread population is seen as healthy and despite the citizens' good intentions, the group might have been disrupting the salamanders' natural need to travel from pond to pond.
"This mass migration is interesting but nothing unusual," said University of Calgary biology researcher Larry Powell, adding a similar occurrence led to mass killings along Hwy. 2 recently.
"If they are going to make a move," Powell said, a rainy night "is a good night to do it."
Salamanders Keep McKenzie Hopping