Discussion -- Releasing Pets into the Wild

[jm1212]

this is much like the Monk Parrot (Quaker Parakeet) colony we have here in Chicago, and there are many other breeding colonies in other cities across the U.S. there are so many breeding populations that some states have banned them and you can be fined for posessing a Quaker, and in some states it will be imediatly euthanized. some Quakers may have escaped by accident, but there have been mass releases by PTA and other animal rights extremeiststs that have lead to the deaths of many of these birds, either from food depirvation, being captured and euthanized, or freezing or being killed by harsh waether. needless to say, the population of Quakers keeps growing. i do not agree with releasing fish/birds/cats/dogs/ rabbits etc. etc. etc. whatsoever (especially because of the risks as mantioned above, and because they have learned to depend on people for food)

back to the fish... well, there are numerous Aisan carp poulations in the Du Page River that were released by people that were origionally pets (may have been koi and reverted back to their natural state) and dont serve much of a problem, but they have reduced natives in our area by a bit. there are also snake head incidentsin remote lakes where the local population has be totally decimated by these predators.

[mach_six]

I didn't know Snakeheads can live in waters that cold up north.

[coupedefleur]

Of course if there's a major flood, you may not have any choice in the matter. We had a flood several years ago and the water was 2' deep in the basement, just inches from the rim of my 50 gallon tank. If fish had escaped they would have been loose in the basement and probably flushed into a sanitary sewer, but a major knock-your-house-down flood is going to release any fish to the outside world.

[The TRUST]

I didn't know Snakeheads can live in waters that cold up north.


Only 1 species of Snakehead can which is Channa Argus aka The Northern Snakehead. All other Snakehead species are cold sensitive and wont stand a chance in the cold north. Heck most wont even survive a California winter.

[jm1212]

Of course if there's a major flood, you may not have any choice in the matter. We had a flood several years ago and the water was 2' deep in the basement, just inches from the rim of my 50 gallon tank. If fish had escaped they would have been loose in the basement and probably flushed into a sanitary sewer, but a major knock-your-house-down flood is going to release any fish to the outside world.that would be considered accidental, not so much intentional, like when an irrisposible fish keeper can no longer sustain his 40 koi and releases them into the local lake, or when an animal rights extremist group (cough cough PETA cough cough) goes in and buys every last black skirt tetra, for exmple, and then releses them into the river, as their totally INSANE idea of SAVING them, when they are acctually introducing a plague of tropical diseases, along with the fact that they will all most likely die from the cold water.

[Lobo.]

kiduv like when peta bought all the minks from a mink farm, and released them into the english countryside, where they ran umok killing native plants and animals until the local townspeople rallied and killed them off...

i always worry that snails are getting out of my tank through waterchanges... ill bet that ive introduced ramshorn, pondsnails, and MTS into the sewers at least, could they then survive to the river?

[plah831]

Lobo, I've worried about the same thing. I've heard of them surviving in plumbing, only to back up your sink after growing for a few months! So I've no doubt they can survive in the sewage systems and rivers.

But it's so hard to avoid washing down some baby snails when I do a water change. I should get in the habit of pouring some bleach down the drain after I'm done, I guess.

[Evan214]

Someone stated above that there is a Monk Parrot population in the wild in Chicago. Well in Long Beach, CA, there is a wild parakeet flock of apparently escaped or released pets. The first time I saw them, I had to double-take because I just thought they were extremely colorful pidgeons. But no, they are honest to God parakeets! Just thought I'd let an interesting fact out.

[fishcatch22]

Someone stated above that there is a Monk Parrot population in the wild in Chicago. Well in Long Beach, CA, there is a wild parakeet flock of apparently escaped or released pets. The first time I saw them, I had to double-take because I just thought they were extremely colorful pidgeons. But no, they are honest to God parakeets! Just thought I'd let an interesting fact out.yeah, we had the same thing back in florida.

one good reason why you must ALWAYS clip the wings of your pets birds unless it is a homing pigeon

[Evan214]

yeah, we had the same thing back in florida.

one good reason why you must ALWAYS clip the wings of your pets birds unless it is a homing pigeon

Good point! :idea:

[WeeNe858]

we have all sorts of things here in orange county cali from keets to cats to koi to red eared sliders... we even found a GIANt soft shelled turtle at a park backing.. it had a 2 ft diameter!

[Toirtis]

kiduv like when peta bought all the minks from a mink farm, and released them into the english countryside, where they ran umok killing native plants and animals until the local townspeople rallied and killed them off...

They tried the same thing here....half ran one way out onto a the country's most major highway and were squashed, the other half ran off the cliffs on the other side and plunged hundreds of feet to the rocks below.

[Toirtis]

yeah, we had the same thing back in florida.

..and Florida is so much worse...they now have almost as many introduced species of fauna as native species....burmese pythons, water monitors and Nile monitors are breeding in the everglades and canal systems, and you can catch every fish from oscars and pacu to clown knives and bichirs in local waters.

[fballguy]

I was at my grandparants in October fishing off a bridge and caught a box turtle. The poor thing would not have lasted another week.(It was the last warm week of the year. Luckily I got the hook out without hurting it any more and took it to the LFS. I wonder how it is now...

[Evan214]

we have all sorts of things here in orange county cali from keets to cats to koi to red eared sliders... we even found a GIANt soft shelled turtle at a park backing.. it had a 2 ft diameter!
Where in Orange COunty do you live (north, south...) because that's where I live and I've never heard of "wild" koi or giant shelled turtles! Wow!

[fishcatch22]

I was at my grandparants in October fishing off a bridge and caught a box turtle. The poor thing would not have lasted another week.(It was the last warm week of the year. Luckily I got the hook out without hurting it any more and took it to the LFS. I wonder how it is now...box turtles are temperate animals that hibernate in the winter. it could have easily survived.

was it an eastern box turtle or something? in that case, you did the right thing.

[fballguy]

I don't know my turtles very well, so I don't know. I do know it was a box turtle though. Either way it was not a native turtle and should not have been there.

I told my uncle about it and he said you have to be careful because sometimes people catch big snapping turtles while fishing. He said one time he caught a 2 footer! I would be scared to bring that thing close to me. The last thing I want when I'm fishing is a 2 foot snapping turtle getting pissed off at me.

[Mgamer20o0]

Someone stated above that there is a Monk Parrot population in the wild in Chicago. Well in Long Beach, CA, there is a wild parakeet flock of apparently escaped or released pets. The first time I saw them, I had to double-take because I just thought they were extremely colorful pidgeons. But no, they are honest to God parakeets! Just thought I'd let an interesting fact out.
i think they are in a few more citys then long beach. i am 5 miles or so away from long beach and there is a pack that used to live in my high school. i have seen fish that dont belong in almost every park lake around.

i think its something that more people needs to be informed of. its not only people putting fish into environments that they dont belong. Joe125 was telling me in fl that the local gov is stocking the lakes with non native fish.

[Kyohti]

I wouldn't so much blame rogue carp and goldfish on aquarists as I would blame them on fishermen who buy a dozen or two for live bait and then dump the leftovers into the water afterward because they don't have anything else they can do with them. That is how a lot of carp and goldfish end up taking over reservoirs and other bodies of water. That's certainly what happened there at the reservoir in our local town. Nowadays, you have to go through the carp and the alligator gars to get any good fishing down there... : /

[Kyohti]

Also as for talk of turtles... the local public aquarium here has an alligator turtle who's head is LITERALLY as big as mine!!! O___O;;;

[emptywallet]

hear in ohio i dont think alligator snapping turtles are native here yet we have one in our rexcenter pond and he is almost 3 feet long and I think that is a major saftey hazard and now I wonder if my snails can survive being dumped out the second story window on dry soil and even make it to the pond down my street...There also carps at the bottom of the dam near the columbus zoo and some are giant

[SchizotypalVamp]

I saw two giant, about 2 and a half feet koi down at the malibu state reserve along with a family of softshell turtles. Yay!

[Inka4040]

You know, the quaker parrots actually get a lot of positive press here in NY. There are established colonies in the BX and Queens. Guess it's probably because we need all of the "wildlife" we can get in the city :D

[cam191919]

down here in sarasota, iv seen black capped conures, monk parakeets, budgies, cocatiels, i think a sun parrot and a lot more that i didnt know. im not sure if its a problem or not, but give me a net gun and ill solve it:devil:

[cam191919]

and they just realeased peacock bass, for some reason, into the waterways down here. florida is becoming a giant zoo. and red fire ants come from argentina. its really annoying to think that some guy brought them here, especially when ther biting you

[emptywallet]

I used to live in texas and always step in the ant hills and i am alergic to them -.-

[AquaParadise12]

yeah and there's a huge population of hybrid endlers in my local park.Better get a net and start cathing them!

[Dwarf Puffers]

Sounds like south america is invading.

[BigFishKeeper]

A couple weeks ago I went fishing with my dad and we both caught a RTC and a pacu!! NO LIE!

[msjinkzd]

This conversation may be more appropriate for general chit-chat than attached to an article. Feel free to link to this article if you decide to open a thread to discuss non-native wild caught critters.