This is very interesting! I never thought about the creatures that escape from aquariums or ponds during disasters like hurricanes and the resulting impact on the environment because of their escape. I've seen programs about how much damage lion fish are doing to areas they aren't native to but that's probably the case with any invasive species (animals and plants).
Yes, our Department of Natural Resources recently found snakeheads in a stream in Metro Atlanta area; probably released by a "pet" owner when it outgrew its tank or food budget. https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-are-snakeheads?qt-news_science_products=0#qt-news_science_products
I agree!!
We have our fair share of creatures released by irresponsible pet owners but nothing related to natural disasters. If Lake Ontario ever flooded and took over my house the creatures in my freshwater tanks could pose an environmental risk and the goldfish in my pond would certainly be a problem. Added to that my fw tanks are coldwater so the inhabitants would have no trouble making it through our winters. The only ones that wouldn't do so well are my salty guys! I just read an article about a pond in BC that is in one of the parks and supposedly people have been dumping their goldfish there. Now the pond is overflowing with them. Supposedly it's isolated from any streams and rivers bit there is a river close to it. Now they're concerned that if the pond overflows during a storm the goldfish could get washed into the river. The article ended with "they're studying the problem". I don't know how much studying it takes. I'd be getting them out of there ASAP because if the problem of the pond overflowing has the slightest chance of happening then you know it will happen at some point.
Yes, gonna need an armada of nets. So many invasive species have been introduced to different ecosystems without a full understanding of the consequences, such as European rabbits brought to Australia as food and later escaping to become a real threat to the environment, reticulated pythons released into the Everglades by naive, "kind hearted" snake owners, and, of course, the car eating species of Kudzu imported from Japan for erosion control and which is now so prevalent in the South, lol.
You're not kidding about "car eating". That is a crazy picture! What's so ironic is that most erosion issues are man made to begin with and in this case they have to deal with an invasive species that will continue to grow beyond the area that's eroding! Maybe lion fish will eat it. ;-)Yes, gonna need an armada of nets. So many invasive species have been introduced to different ecosystems without a full understanding of the consequences, such as European rabbits brought to Australia as food and later escaping to become a real threat to the environment, reticulated pythons released into the Everglades by naive, "kind hearted" snake owners, and, of course, the car eating species of Kudzu imported from Japan for erosion control and which is now so prevalent in the South, lol.
www.fieldandstream.com
