Pet trade is generating an alien invasion

One man’s pet is frequently another man’s problem. As a child, I had a pet rooster named Sir Gawain. We brought him into the garage every night so he wouldn’t disturb our neighbours by crowing to the rising sun. One day he escaped and every morning, unable to recapture him, we would cringe as we listened to him crowing from a different corner of our sleepy suburban neighbourhood. It took a week to get him back.

But my family’s troubles with Sir Gawain pale in comparison to the problems created by the exotic pet trade. This was the topic of a hearing in the US Senate yesterday where senators discussed what should be done to deal with the threat of non-native species to ecosystems.

For example, in Mexico, guppies from Trinidad have been observed sexually harassing local fish to prevent them from reproducing. The guppies were probably introduced to Mexican waters by careless aquarium owners.

Meanwhile, the number of US households with at least one pet reptile has doubled in the past decade. When they escape or are released into the wild, many become invasive, destroying local wildlife.

Burmese pythons in the Florida Everglades are a classic example. According to some scientists, the pythons were first introduced to the area after Hurricane Andrew swept over South Florida in 1992, destroying pet shops along the way.

Last week a little girl was killed by a pet Burmese python after it broke out of its tank. Senator Bill Nelson, who says it’s only a matter of time before one of the several thousand Burmese pythons that live in the Everglades kills a park visitor, used the incident to argue at the Senate hearing that imports of the snakes should be banned. 

Http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2009/07/problem-pets.html