Spill in Southwest Iowa kills thousands of fish

A manure spill has killed thousands of fish along of one-mile stretch of a southwest Iowa creek. Officials say hog manure that came from an Iowa Select Farms confinement with over four thousand sows was applied in liquid form on a field for fertilizer. On Saturday, that manure drained off the field and ended up in Four Mile Creek, near Thayer, which is east of Creston along Highway 34. Officials say minnows, chubs and Johnny darters were killed in the stream.State investigators say Southern Waste Hauling, a commercial applicator in Mount Ayr, applied the liquid manure at a rate that greatly exceeded the absorbent capacity of the clay soil. Iowa Select and the Mount Ayr company brought in equipment on Sunday, made a dam, and pumped out the remaining manure in the area.