CLEVELAND — Hundreds of gulls were killed or maimed in Cleveland after what investigators believe was cooking oil spewed from a sewer pipe into the Cuyahoga River.
Investigators said Friday that several hundred gallons of the substance killed or disabled hundreds of gulls near the Kingsbury Run tributary.
Most of the birds are just downstream from the site where environmentalists last week celebrated the Cuyahoga River's comeback since floating oil and debris caught fire on June 22, 1969.
The burning river became a standing joke and a symbol of urban decay and runaway pollution.
Dozens of sludge-covered gull carcasses could be seen by rowers with the Cleveland Rowing Foundation early Friday, most near a sprawling steel mill site near downtown Cleveland.
