I was walking along on one of my regular circumnavigations of the Byrne Creek ravine in southeast Burnaby when I passed a young boy and a man ambling along. As I went by, I overheard a snippet of conversation that made me cringe.
The boy pointed at Griffiths' Pond near the Edmonds Skytrain station and said "That's where I released my fish." The man responded, "That was nice to return it to nature."
I wanted to stop and let them know about the negative effects of releasing pets into the wild, but they were having such a pleasant chat that I bit my tongue. I know from my volunteer work as a streamkeeper on Byrne Creek that we do not release salmon in that area, nor do schools release their "salmon in the classroom" fry there, so the boy was not talking about a sanctioned fish release. I assumed he was refering to some other non-native species that he had gotten from a pet store.
While on the surface it appears to be a nice gesture to set a pet fish, or other animal, free, there are several dangerous drawbacks.
1) The pet will likely have difficulty surviving in the wild.
2) If it does survive, and it is not a native species, it could threaten the existence of local species, particulary if it manages to breed.
You are not doing your pet, or your local environment, any favors by "setting it free."
Posted by Paul at August 8, 2006 01:01 PM