Mystery donor pledges £10k for Walsall cyanide canal clear up

An anonymous donor has pledged £10,000 on a crowdfunding page to help the Canal and River Trust restore the canal and wildlife damaged by the chemical spill in Walsall last week.

Chemicals including sodium cyanide leaked into the Walsall Canal at Pleck after an industrial incident.

It was confirmed yesterday that 90kg of fish carcasses were retrieved from the waterway.

The waterways charity set up a crowdfunding page to raise £10,000 to help the damaged wildlife.

Now an anonymous donor has pledged the whole amount, meaning the crowdfunding page has reached £13,000 in around 24 hours.

Henriette Breukelaar, the regional director at Canal & River Trust, explained that the company responsible should pay for the damage, but investigations may take a while and they need to act quickly.

“The chemical spill on the Walsall Canal has been extremely distressing, and has caused great harm to local wildlife.

"We know that so many people share our outrage at what happened last week and will want to help the response.

"Of course, the company responsible should pay, but the timing and outcome of the investigation by the Environment Agency is uncertain, and we must act now to protect nature as best we can."

The spillage is no longer a major incident and the restricted area of the canal has been reduced down to one kilometre with temporary dams at each end. In this area high levels of sodium cyanide and zinc cyanide have been found.

Daily testing is still taking place.

Anochrome Ltd say they've been working on-site with all the relevant authorities to minimise and contain the spill.

Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know...