KSU students rescue fish from flooding at distillery

FRANKLIN COUNTY, Ky. (WLEX, CNN) – After a recent round of flooding, Kentucky State University’s aquaculture students helped their neighbors at a distillery.

The Kentucky State Aquaculture Research Team managed to remove 250 pounds of fish trapped in Buffalo Trace Distillery’s low-lying areas.

Cole Daleiden, an aquaculture student at KSU, says he has been spending the past few weeks combining his coursework with his hobbies. He says it’s something he considers unforgettable.

The student applied his learning when his employer, Buffalo Trace Distillery, learned there were fish from the Kentucky River trapped on their property from the historic flooding in April.

Daleiden says,” “I was very excited when the best of both worlds here in Frankfort kind of aligned.”

Andrew Ray, a professor of aquaculture at KSU, says fish getting trapped from flooding is rare.

Ray says they didn’t have time to marvel at the fact that these fish somehow made it more than a quarter mile down the river, only to get stuck at the distillery. He says the conditions were getting risky for the fish.

“Buffalo Trace is our neighbor,” Ray says. “We want to be good neighbors. We want to help out any way we can. I think everybody at that time around the flooding was kind of worried about their neighbors.”

More than a dozen different species will be returned to the Kentucky River.