This syringe with a needle was found in Okanagan Lake close to shore at Kin Beach in Vernon.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Ryan Benson
August 16, 2023 - 4:30 PM
Ryan Benson lives in Vernon and loves to snorkel in Okanagan Lake. He often comes across litter in the water, mostly plastics, which he retrieves and disposes of, but earlier this week he pulled something more unusual and disturbing from the lake bottom, a syringe with a bent intact needle in it.
“The top of it was pointed out and the needle was hooked into bio debris on the bottom, bobbing straight up from the bottom,” he said. “I didn’t expect to find this.”
Benson found the needle offshore at Kin Beach. He wasn’t far from the shoreline where the water was roughly three feet deep. While he’s seen needles discarded by drug users on Vernon’s downtown city streets this is the first needle he’s found in the lake, and he’s “never going barefoot at the beach again.”
“One guy said he found one in the sand, nowhere is safe and everyone should be wearing footwear at the beach,” he said.
Close to the area Benson found the needle is a creek that drains in from the city centre. He speculated the needle could have been carried in that way. While there's no way of knowing where the needle came from, Benson suspects it is the result of the drug use and social disorder in the city.
READ MORE: Commercial land near Vernon Golf Course sells for $4 million
Other pieces of litter he finds while snorkelling include cans, wrappers and plastics.
READ MORE: Kelowna man ordered to demolish derelict house faces similar charges at second home
“I’m trying to find treasure and I’m picking up garbage instead.”
To contact a reporter for this story, email Shannon Ainslie or call 250-819-6089 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.
We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. SUBSCRIBE to our awesome newsletter here.
News from © iNFOnews, 2023