Bulldozers For Good (For Once)

Folks who are passionate about protecting animals often find themselves beset on all sides with opposition -- from people who are well-meaning but underinformed, from industry-funded groups with deep pockets and a loose concept of facts, sometimes from within our own government. Of course, a primary source of opposition to our work is that nebulous thing called "industry." There are far too many stories about that.

This isn't one of those stories. This time, the private sector got it right, and, as a result, a bunch of freshwater aquatic species that most of us have never heard of are getting a new lease on life.

Meet the Dillsboro Dam, located in western North Carolina. Or actually, don't, because a good chunk of it isn't there anymore. Instead, meet the sicklefin redhorse, a migratory fish that hasn't seen the upstream side of the Tuckasegee River for about a century or so. Thanks to responsible action from Duke Energy, with an assist from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the sicklefin redhorse is going to have quite a few more miles of habitat in which to thrive.

They started bulldozing the dam recently, with appropriate protections for the aquatic animals in the river. It's a win for habitat, a win for animal welfare, and a win for the human beings who live nearby as well. It's also a win for Duke Energy, because it makes their downstream dams more efficient.

Duke Energy may not get it right all the time, and it would be disingenuous to say they don't have motives beyond sicklefin redhorses, but here's the victory. One more cog in that vast machine we call "industry" got it right. That's one more example that you can be a private sector business, competing for profit, and still do right by animals. More importantly, it's one more example that we get to cite when more reluctant businesses treat profits versus protection as an either/or proposition.

Photo credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service