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Monster in a Bottle

Tampa, FL - The Merov Leather Tannery in Tampa, like most high-volume industries, creates more than its share of waste product. Not as "toxic" as other textile industry companies, Merov has been voluntarily implementing safety standards in its main factory in Tampa, trying to update the way it deals with its toxic wastes for the first time since 1953. To this end, a team specializing in industrial detoxification was brought in to help design a better waste system as well as to help eliminate the waste problem that already existed at the old plant.

I Think I Ate One of These in Singapore - The Sludge Creature

Joe Valone and Susan Madigan, employees of Merov, were asked to assist "Indutech," the industrial waste removal company, to help clean and sanitize the vats and drums of used leather-tanning chemicals. While cleaning one of the many tanks, Joe noticed some movement within the tank. "I saw something move, like swimming." Said Joe.

Thinking that some hapless animal had fallen into the tank of industrial waste, Susan grabbed a "Big Gulp" cup that was lying nearby and scooped the hapless critter out of the tank.

"At first I noticed the smell." Said Susan. "As soon as we scooped it out of the liquid, it emitted a strange odor." She looked in the cup and saw a creature that she could not recognize. "I thought the fumes were getting to me." She laughed.

"It was kind of part squid, part frog, part crab or something like that." Said Joe. "As soon as we pulled it out of the sludge, it started moving real fast, like a fish dying onshore. I wanted to throw it back in, but I didn't know if that was the right thing to do and that sludge was going to a 'purification center,' anyway."

Within minutes, the two procured a canister large enough to accommodate the strange animal. They scooped it out of the drink cup and set it in the vial. Unfortunately, the sludge creature died within minutes.

"I think it might have been the light that killed it," said Susan. "All those years of isolation in that tank, and it just might have been too much. The light, the air, I don't know."

The pair took the creature into the break room where it has been the source of several practical jokes. Some employees think the creature may have evolved some way to live in the murky chemical mess it was found in. "I don't see how it could have just plopped into the barrel before we looked in it," says Susan. "Maybe nature is finding ways to make life happen in this chemical crap."

Joe and Susan continue to work for the leather tannery, but have asked to be put off of the waste cleanup. "I don't think it's that safe," Joe told me "I mean what if whatever happened to that animal, happened to us?"

sources

Interview with Joe Valone and Susan Madigan August 9, 1998.

Photo Credit: Derek Barnes



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