Vanessa Weichberger
Keanna, a 5-month-old husky, wades in the Virgin River at Zion National Park. Moments after leaving the water, the dog could not walk, was in pain, and was having seizures. He died within the hour.
Tuesday, July 21, 2020 | 2 a.m.
Nearly three weeks since a 5-month-old pup died of toxic shock after a dip in the Virgin River at Zion National Park, park and health officials are still puzzled how the deadly organisms wound up in the waters.
On Independence Day weekend, members of the Weichberger family from North Carolina were among the hundreds of people frolicking in the river along a trail at Zion, a two-and-a-half-hour drive from Las Vegas, in southwestern Utah.
They had brought Keanna, a young husky that 10-year-old Francis Weichberger had received as a birthday present just a month earlier. Keanna followed Francis into the cool river, and within minutes of getting out of the water, the family immediately noticed something was wrong with the husky.
Keanna, her eyes bloodshot, became frantic and her front paws folded underneath her. Francis’ mother, Vanessa Weichberger, picked the dog up like a baby.
“She looked over at my son and she did something that was so sweet. She reached out for his ear and kind of gently nibbled on the edge of his ear and looked at him. That was the last moment we had where she was really present and not in terrible pain,” Vanessa Weichberger recalled.
Keanna died before the family made it out of the park's parking lot.
Health officials tested samples of the water from the site where the family had been wading. Tests found concentrations greater than 550 micrograms per liter of a toxin called Very Fast Death Factor (VFDF). This type of toxin, Anatoxin-A, “can kill a dog in as little as 15 minutes after consumption,” Zion National Park spokesman Jeff Axel said.
How the bacteria developed in the river continues to stump health officials, he said.
Specialists nationwide have since been calling Zion for more information, because Anatoxin-A is typically found in still bodies of water — not a flowing river where the bacteria would break up and be flushed out. “They’re just mystified,” Axel said.
That this type of toxin would be in a small, flowing river is so rare that Utah doesn’t have any processes on the books to address it. Under Utah law, health officials must warn the public if tests show concentrations of 15 micrograms per liter of Anatoxin-A. The “danger threshold” is 90 micrograms. But those standards apply to still bodies of water, like lakes or ponds.
Erica Gaddis, director of Utah's Department of Environmental Quality's Division of Water Quality, said the state has never had this issue.
“We’re aware that it’s happened in other places, but it’s new to us in Utah,” Gaddis said.
As far as mitigation efforts, not much can be done to remove the toxin except to wait for it to be flushed out naturally. Chemical treatments cannot be used because they could kill endangered species.
“There’s no (quick) way to get rid of it,” Axel said.
“We really can’t predict how long this will go, or whether it will get … when it will get better, or if it could get worse,” Gaddis said.
Brian Hedlund, a microbiologist and UNLV professor, said he was surprised at how fast the dog died after its swim. “I wouldn’t have thought that an animal would die within an hour. That sounds crazy to me,” Hedlund said.
He speculated the bacteria growth would have required some pollutants, such as nitrogen or phosphorus, which are linked to fertilizer or contamination from a farm.
“I don’t think of the Virgin River being contaminated that way,” he said.
Axel said no elevated levels of E. coli were detected in the water samples, so the problem could not be blamed on sewage runoff.
Researchers will collect samples at more locations upstream and downstream of Zion to determine how far the toxin extends. Utah’s Department of Agriculture and Food has recommended that farmers in the area use a different source of water for livestock.
Meanwhile, park officials have posted danger signs saying the public should avoid swimming and keep pets out of the water until further notice. Additionally, visitors are warned not to drink the water, avoid areas of algae scum and discard the guts of fish that have been caught in the river.
Currently, Washington County Water Conservancy District, Zion National Park and the towns of Virgin and Rockville are not using the North Fork of the Virgin River as a drinking water source. Tests of drinking water from the town of Springdale and agricultural water have not detected the presence of cyanotoxins. Springdale will continue testing drinking water to ensure it is safe for consumption. Advanced water treatment technologies can remove cyanotoxins.
Zion National Park reopened May 13, partially resuming operations, after closing for six weeks starting in late April because of the coronavirus pandemic. Park activities continue to be limited; half of the seats in the park's shuttle buses have been removed for social distancing and there are signs posted encouraging visitors to wear masks.
Axel said park visitation has decreased drastically. Shuttles on average are transporting less than 4,000 people a day. In July 2019, shuttles sometimes transported more than 9,000 people a day.
When the Weichbergers left the hotel near Zion with an empty dog crate after their tragedy, Vanessa Weichberger told an employee at the front desk what happened. The employee thanked Vanessa Weichberger, saying she takes her dog there to swim all the time.
