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<\/a><\/p>\nGevedon brought 1,000 pounds of carp to the feeding.<\/p>\n
Gevedon\u2019s trailer has two old refrigerators and a freezer full of carp just caught at a fishing tournament at Kentucky Lake, which straddles the border between Tennessee and Kentucky.<\/p>\n
He and his students set up several tables under a tent to filet, trim and place the carp in freezer bags. The meat will feed injured birds of prey from the refuge. Gevedon calls the event a \u201ccarp rodeo.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo months ago this was a dream. A month ago we got our first load of fish,\u201d he said. \u201cAny day you get to fish, and then take that fish and freeze it and know that it\u2019s going to feed an eagle or an owl or a hawk in rehab, man, that\u2019s a good feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n
Several kinds of carp are considered invasive in Kentucky and other states. In the 1970s, carp were brought from Asia to control algal blooms at aquatic farms and water treatment plants, but floods moved them into rivers and lakes.<\/p>\n
Carp spread quickly and can dominate waterways by feeding on plant life that other fish depend on. Invasive species specialists at the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife say carp pose a threat not only to other fish, but also to people on boats. Carp weighing 40-80 pounds can jump out of the water and collide with boaters.<\/p>\n
Gevedon saw the need to reduce the number of carp and, at the same time, use them to feed injured birds of prey at the nearby refuge.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re taking an invasive species, processing it and feeding it to a possibly endangered species, and that\u2019s just a lot of fun,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The Lake Cumberland Wildlife Refuge needs thousands of pounds of food for its injured birds. Executive Director Kimmi Sparkman said the nonprofit has a tight budget, and they appreciate the donation of fish meat.<\/p>\n
\u201cBald eagles especially love fish,\u201d Sparkman said. \u201cThey are fishermen at heart. If you could give them a rabbit or a fish, most days they\u2019ll choose the fish. Hank\u2019s program is perfect for us, because it allows us to give these birds what they want, what they desire.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sparkman said the initiative is a win-win situation that comes with many benefits beyond providing meals for the birds. It reduces costs for the refuge, removes an invasive species from the wild and the leftover parts are used by organic farmers for compost.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is just wonderful,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat we do gets hard. There are days where you\u2019ve worked on an animal for a long time, and despite best efforts, it just doesn\u2019t make it. And those are hard days. But days like this where everyone chips in and becomes a part of what we\u2019re doing, it\u2019s just phenomenal. It really lifts my heart, lifts my spirits and encourages me to keep doing what I\u2019m doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rylan Bradley, one of Gevedon\u2019s students, said he enjoys the experience of turning fish into food for injured birds. The engineering class is working on developing a machine that separates the bones of a carp from the meat.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very different,\u201d Bradley said. \u201cIt\u2019s fun. It\u2019s hands on. We\u2019re using our brain a lot to think about ways to automate the process.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jackie, a bald eagle, has poor vision and will be an animal ambassador for the wildlife refuge.<\/p>\n
Gevedon was thankful for his students\u2019 work and said he has plans for another \u201ccarp rodeo\u201d in spring.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll winter long, raptors in rehab \u2014 owls and hawks and eagles \u2014 are going to eat good fish because we\u2019re putting it together,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2025 WKYT. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(WKYT) – Carp have increasingly become a nuisance in waterways across the country. A southern Kentucky high school…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":258094,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[96589,135641,9150,135643,135642,135640,135639,159,67,132,68,837],"class_list":{"0":"post-258093","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-birds-of-prey","9":"tag-carp","10":"tag-eagles","11":"tag-hank-gevedon","12":"tag-lake-cumberland-wildlife-refuge","13":"tag-off-the-beaten-path","14":"tag-sam-dick","15":"tag-science","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-wildlife"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115274927911020341","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}