Giant hole in California lake swallows duck, sparking debate over its survival
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A crowd of spectators in California surrounding Lake Berryessa's famous "Glory Hole" drain was watching the mesmerizing spillway when they spotted a duck getting pulled in by the current.
Rick Fowler was videotaping the man-made hole when what appears to be a mallard entered the frame. The group of viewers clung to a chain-link fence as they watched the heart-stopping scene unfold.
"Oh...wow!" one man can be overheard yelling in the video as the duck falls into the more than 200-foot-deep (18-story) artificial spillway in Lake Berryessa — the largest lake in Napa County. It was created by the Monticello Dam.
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Tori Junes Fowler, who told Fox News that she's Rick's cousin, posted his video on Facebook Monday. The 14-second clip has already been viewed more than 55,000 times.
"Duck took a wild ride but did make it out on the other side!" she captioned the now viral video.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Though Tori said the duck made it out of the green-hued hole, wildlife experts believe the outlook is grim for the "unlucky" duck.
Brionna Ruff, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Reclamation — a federal agency that owns the reservoir, said it's likely the duck didn't survive.
"From what I understand that water is going down really fast and when things come out the other side ... I don't want to get really graphic," Ruff told the San Francisco Chronicle. "The chances do not look good for the ducky."
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Melissa Vignau, a project supervisor for the Solano Irrigation District, told ABC 10 she also doubts the duck made it through without a scratch.
"The velocity of water going through there would have torn it in pieces," she said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}However, Rick maintains that it escaped to the other side unscathed.
"It shot out of there like a bullet."
"It shot out of there like a bullet," he told ABC 10. "It flew through the turbulence and came out of the water shaking water like it didn't [know] what had happened."
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He confirmed to the news station that it landed in the "calmer water in the creek."
The fast-moving hole dumps excess rainwater into a pipe that spills out behind a dam.
"When the dam reaches capacity, the spillway swallows water at a rate of 48,800 cubic feet per second, emptying about 700 feet away through an enormous concrete pipe," travel site Atlas Obscura explains in a blog post, calling it the "largest drain hole in the world."