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Trouble starts when exotic 'pets' are set free
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by tigers9 on December 7, 2008
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Can u spell, greasing /oiling the way for keeping HR6311 the alive?
The Non-Native Wildlife Invasion Prevention Act
http://www.rexano.org/HR6311_Wildlife_Invasion_Frame.htm
Z
http://washingtontimes.com/weblogs/inside-outside/2008/Dec/07/trouble-starts-when-exotic-pets-are-set-free/
Trouble starts when exotic 'pets' are set free
Inside Outside (View Blog)
POSTED December 07 2008 4:00 PM BY Gene Mueller
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The astonishing amount of damage that can be caused when exotic pets are set free is amply illustrated by the Washington area's very own ecological misadventure that continues to baffle Virginia and Maryland fisheries biologists.
Someone, we know not who, set free a number of exotic, imported aquarium fish in a suburban farm pond and also in the Potomac River not far from President George Washington's home, Mount Vernon.
The unwanted intruder has been identified as the Northern snakehead, a Chinese import that multiplies like fleas, is able to live on land for a short period of time, even do a little land traveling, and worst of all -- once it takes hold in any water -- establishes a firm population that competes with native species for food and critically important habitat.
We call the initial introduction of the snakehead fish into the historic Potomac a release of "pets" because they were owned by someone who probably enjoyed looking at them cavorting in an aquarium, but eventually didn't feel like caring for them any longer as they grew larger and hungrier, hence let them go. Yes, most people think of pets as furry, feathery or scaly critters that can walk or fly, but fish might also qualify for the designation.
Now comes the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) that is pleading with the citizens of the Sunshine State: "If you have an exotic pet you can't care for anymore, please don't just open the front door and set it free."
The commission recently held its fourth Non-native Pet Amnesty Day at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens where it asked no questions or levied fines and legal charges against anyone who brought in exotic reptiles, amphibians, birds, fish and mammals. It would accept anything that didn't belong in Florida, but would not accept homeowners' dogs, cats, rabbits and ferrets.
"Our main purpose is to give pet owners an alternative to releasing non-native animals into the wild," said Jenny Tinnell, a biologist for the FWC. "It's illegal to release a nonnative animal into the wild in Florida, and it could be detrimental for the animal and the environment."
The latter part of Tinnell's statement, of course, applies to all the states. You're simply not permitted to take it upon yourself to alter the natural environment and introduce non-native species of any kind, be they pets or not, into America.
In the case of Florida, more than 400 non-native species have been observed, with more than 130 of them reproducing and increasing formerly tiny populations.
Imagine how much damage the careless introduction of zebra mussels caused in the Great Lakes states. Sure, they weren't pets, but it is thought that they clung to the hulls of foreign ships, or were flushed out by the ships' bilge pumps and took hold in new water. They now are an ecological disaster.
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RE: Trouble starts when exotic 'pets' are set free
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by earthguy on December 9, 2008
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I'm sorry Z, what part of this did you not agree with?
It's true that there is a knee jerk reaction to stories like this, and people will want all out bans. However, we have to realize that non-native biota CAN cause problems when they become invasive (Science backs that up) and become more diligent as exotic keepers. I think that education is the key here, and I see this article as more of an educational piece than some covert attempt to keep an AR agenda alive.
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RE: Trouble starts when exotic 'pets' are set free
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by LadyBloodRose on December 9, 2008
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Wow anouther snakehead? didn;t they find one in tehs ame palce years ago?
Anyway I was sitin back talkinw ith a friend the other day about the exotic pets that have been "released" in Fl. Like say the burms, retics, iggys, monitors etc. You know they like to blame pet owners, but they forget about all those petstores that where destroyed durring hurricaines, tornadoes etc. that had pets accidently released. thats something you never hear about but rather media instead ofcuses on the pet owners.
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RE: Trouble starts when exotic 'pets' are set free
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by tigers9 on December 9, 2008
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Well, my objection to the article is it screams INVASIVE EXOTIC PETS, but when you actually read into it, it is really the non pet animals causing the fresh water trouble. Zebra mussles are not pets. The Northern snakehead are also used as food fish, they get kind of big for indoor aquarium at over 1.5 foot.
Actually when you read the NC report below, it seems like somebody just wanted to save market fish from being eaten, got them and released them to live free happily ever after.
http://www.ncwildlife.org/pg03_fishing/pg3g3.htm
And yeah, in FL, one wonders how many were dumped on purpose and how many went free after natural disaster.
What gets me that the types of animals supposedly thriving and breeding in FL are egg layers, I would expect live bearers like boas having better chance for survival the egg layers like pythons, monitors or iguanas. So I am skeptical about the breeding claims.
Z
PS: it is cold and woindy here in southern NV, where is the Global warming being promised all this time????
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RE: Trouble starts when exotic 'pets' are set free
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by earthguy on December 9, 2008
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Global Warming is actually somewhat of a misnomer and refers to average temperature worldwide, not just in Nevada. Global Climate change is actually a better term.
Your question about egg wearing vs. live bearing is interesting. What lead you to that thought?
As far as how the exotics get into the ecosystem, there are certainly MANY culprits. 'Sprotsmen' in search of a better fight have purposefully released exotic species outside of their range and accidentially released exotic bait. Hurricanes are, I think, responsible (in part) for the invasion of Nutria (which were also, incidently a food species). Escapees from destroyed (or improperly handled) pet stores are another possibility.
I guess all I am saying is that irresponsible pet owners (exotic or not) ARE a problem. They (We?) HAVE released exotics into the ecosystem (some more detrimental than others). We need to own up to that, stop blaming extremists for bad publicity, and start coming up with solutions.
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RE: Trouble starts when exotic 'pets' are set free
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by tigers9 on December 9, 2008
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<<Your question about egg wearing vs. live bearing is interesting. What lead you to that thought? >>
I have been thinking about it for years, I mean, by having to incubate eggs in ‘foreign’ climate you are adding another variable that can go wrong, considering the weather changes, incubation period, predators, etc.
Live bearers don’t have to worry about it.
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RE: Trouble starts when exotic 'pets' are set free
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by earthguy on December 9, 2008
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That is true, but animals excel at finding microclimates to suit their needs.
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RE: Trouble starts when exotic 'pets' are set free
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by tigers9 on December 9, 2008
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OK, why don't we have (more) boas in Everglades in addition to pythons???? Or retics, they r also cheap to get when babies.
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RE: Trouble starts when exotic 'pets' are set free
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by xvenomx on April 28, 2009
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Uh...... I hate to tell everyone this, because noone wants to hear it, but Homosapiens are the most invasive species this planet has EVER seen. I'm pretty sure that every python in the country could be released in the state of florida, and it would not cause as much devistation to native wildlife. as the smallest town in the state.
Now I don't think that releasing non-native species is particularly intelligent,but neither are 98% of the people in this world. Whether intentional or not, animal release/escape will happen as long as people own animals.
I don't hear a lot about feral hogs down there? These cause massive losses to native species. Unfortunantly lawmakers are not always well informed in these cases, and unfortunantly they probably will never be.
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