Axolotls most likely extinct?!?!?!

[Boomsloth]

Why not capture populations of all the species in lake xochimilco then drain the lake and as water lowers go around saving all the axolotls and native species we find as we let the lake lower and kill all the tilapia/carp/gamefish then clean all the polluted muck out and then at least partially refill the canals and then wait for the rest of the lake to fill with rain and runoff. We already drained lake chalco for our purposes so why not drain xochimilco for other animals.

The problem is the people in the city still use the canals for growing stuff and other things. Its not isolated so draining it and then refilling will be a lot of work that the city doesn't have the money for. The canals would have to be torn apart to recreate the lake and even after all the muck was removed, would still take many many years to reestablish itself as a suitable habitat for axolotls. Idk what happened to those natural mountain streams but that's where a majority of the water came from, and why axolotls prefer cooler waters. I wish it was as easy as just cleaning up the lake, but you have to remember that the city adjacent is still pumping out pollution.

 

[Dragonfire]

The problem is the people in the city still use the canals for growing stuff and other things. Its not isolated so draining it and then refilling will be a lot of work that the city doesn't have the money for. The canals would have to be torn apart to recreate the lake and even after all the muck was removed, would still take many many years to reestablish itself as a suitable habitat for axolotls. Idk what happened to those natural mountain streams but that's where a majority of the water came from, and why axolotls prefer cooler waters. I wish it was as easy as just cleaning up the lake, but you have to remember that the city adjacent is still pumping out pollution.

I kinda figured that it wouldn't be possible but I figured it would work if funds were sufficient. Also I'm pretty sure cold water streams still exist and feed the lake or else it would dry up so more realistically we could put true wild types into those streams and they could survive as a somewhat wild population, also isn't there a stable population in the 1969 Olympic rowing course in Mexico.