Photo shows blood leaking from ground behind Baton Rouge funeral home

BATON ROUGE - A WBRZ viewer spotted a bizarre sight Thursday afternoon as blood leaked onto a road behind a local funeral home.

Photos taken from behind the Greenoaks Funeral Home on Florida Boulevard showed what appeared to be blood leaking from a valve and flowing onto a back road.

A city official later confirmed the red substance was blood mixed with Formaldehyde. The mixture was apparently leaking from a storage tank behind the building. The tank, which holds excess embalming fluid, had begun to leak at some point around 2 p.m.

"We sent out both our sewer inspector and our environmental specialists to take a look. We determined that it wasn't a sewer issue and that it was an issue on private property," said Adam Smith, with the City of Baton Rouge Department of Environmental Services.

Because this is an issue on private property, the city says the leakage will not run into the city sewer system. When asked if the business will face citation, the city says that's up in the air since the funeral home is under new management and did not have a permit.

"We've been really concentrating on restaurants lately, so we haven't been looking into the funeral homes. But we're going to go ahead and get them signed up for a permit tomorrow," Smith said.

The leak lasted for about 20 minutes before the issue was taken care of, according to officials.