A team member places a mesh ramp with a yellow drum inside an Australian tank

Escape ramps · La Pampa

Every year about 250,000 birds drown in La Pampa's livestock water tanks

A wire mesh ramp, which any farmer can build in an afternoon, cuts those deaths by half.

Australian tanks have no way out

Australian tanks (the open-top water tanks used for livestock) have smooth, vertical walls. An animal that goes down to drink, or falls in chasing prey, finds no way out: it swims until exhausted and drowns.

It happens to foxes, rodents, reptiles and above all birds. Most deaths occur in summer, when water is scarce and more animals come to drink.

25,000tanks in the province

~10birds drowned per tank each year

250,000birds drowned each year (estimate)

Estimate based on the average number of birds drowned per tank and the number of tanks recorded in the province (INDEC, 2002).

The victims include two endangered species

A bird of prey pulled from the water beside the edge of a tank — A bird of prey pulled from an Australian tank · CECARA

Birds are the most affected group. In populations that are already small, every individual lost matters.

EndangeredChaco Eagle

EndangeredYellow Cardinal

The ramp

The escape ramp was designed and developed by José Hernán Sarasola and has been installed on farms in the region for years. It sits inside the tank and gives the animal a surface to climb out on its own.

It is made from one square metre of wire mesh, sold in any rural hardware store. It needs no supplier and no factory: any farmer can build and install it in an afternoon.

It needs no maintenance, no electricity and no one nearby. Once installed, it works on its own.

Installing the ramp at the edge of the tank — Installation takes minutes. The drum keeps the ramp afloat when the water level changes.

Three birds on the ramp: on the edge, on the mesh and drinking — Three birds using the ramp at the same time: on the edge, on the mesh and drinking.

How the ramp is built and what it is for · CECARA

With a ramp, half as many animals drown

In the tanks we monitor, those with a ramp recorded 141 drowned animals and those without one, 283.

Without ramp283

With ramp141

Drowned animals recorded · CECARA monitoring

The ramp also turns the tank into a safe place to drink. In a semi-arid environment, where water is scarce for much of the year, that matters.

Water and health

Livestock and many rural families drink from the same tank

Drowned animals affect water quality. Fewer animals in the tank means cleaner water and fewer times a year the tank has to be emptied and cleaned.

Preventing drowning is both a conservation measure and a public health measure. The project is aligned with three of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: good health and well-being, clean water and sanitation, and life on land.

Citizen science

If you find a drowned animal in a tank, let us know

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How it works

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