Officials in western Canada are urging people not to flush their pet goldfish down the toilet because they're surviving and multiplying at an alarming rate.
Environmental officers in the province of Alberta say they've found goldfish the size of dinner plates in the region's storm ponds. Forty of the fish were pulled from a single pond in the north of the province earlier this year, the CBC News website reports. "That's really scary because it means they're reproducing in the wild, they are getting quite large and they are surviving the winters that far north," says Kate Wilson from Alberta's environment department. Goldfish are considered an invasive species in Canada, and the government is worried they could upset fragile local ecosystems.
As a result, it has launched a campaign warning people of the trouble flushed pets can cause - even if they have already gone to the big goldfish pond in the sky. "Even if the fish are dead, they could have diseases or parasites that could be introduced, especially if the water treatment system is not top notch," Ms Wilson tells Fort McMurray Today. The campaign will also target pet stores and markets, as well as groups that engage in "mercy releases", where captive animals are set free in the belief it will create spiritual "good karma", CBC News says.
Alberta has good form when it comes to banishing non-native species. For decades the region has proudly declared itself "rat-free", meaning it has no resident rat population. Occasional infestations do occur, but the government recently set up a rat hotline for residents to report any rodent sightings.
Canadian police have apologised after an explicit conversation was inadvertently broadcast from one of its helicopters.
Whilst on patrol over Winnipeg, the chopper's crew accidentally turned on its loudspeaker allowing members of the public below to hear them.
Those listening say they heard pilots swearing and discussing oral sex.
Winnipeg Police Service say some of the "conversation was inappropriate" and have promised an internal review.
Brandi Armstrong told CBC news that she had been sitting in her garden on Monday evening as the helicopter flew over and was shocked by the exchange.
"My jaw hit the ground; eyes bulged out," she said.
She added that she would like to see the pilots punished. The police say that they are considering disciplinary measures.
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Alberta has good form when it comes to banishing non-native species. For decades the region has proudly declared itself "rat-free", meaning it has no resident rat population. Occasional infestations do occur, but the government recently set up a rat hotline for residents to report any rodent sightings.
Not something either London or New York can claim.
rubato wrote:Now there's a boast you don't hear every day:
Alberta has good form when it comes to banishing non-native species. For decades the region has proudly declared itself "rat-free", meaning it has no resident rat population. Occasional infestations do occur, but the government recently set up a rat hotline for residents to report any rodent sightings.
Not something either London or New York can claim.
I do have a comment about goldfish in the storm basins. I find it far fetched that a goldfish flushed down the toilet would end up in a storm basin (we call them sumps). I would think that human waste does not end up in storm systems as it usually goes to a treatment plant. And even if it is a poorly maintained treatment plant, it's outcharge still does not end up in a storm basin.
When I was a kid, I spent many hours in the sump by my house. It always had water in it and there were carp in it that I would catch and take home to feed to my turtles. There were frogs, snakes, snapping turtles and muskrats living there also.
Quite the ecosystem. We used to play hockey when the water froze in the winter. Loads of fun until the town came and excavated the bottom of it. It would drain too easily after that and no longer held water.
Yes, O&W, this is a curious thing. Even in these nasty old United States our schidt does not go directly into "storm basins," except in rare circumstances which we are now spending billions to mitigate or eliminate.
I can't believe those Canadians are so behind-the-times that their brown water goes directly into the storm sewer.
In the U.S., our flushed goldfish will end up as "sludge" - screened out in the first stage of the WWTP and probably dumped in a landfill.
Is this what we've come to? Discussing goldfish instead of oral sex amongst the Mounties?
For Christianity, by identifying truth with faith, must teach-and, properly understood, does teach-that any interference with the truth is immoral. A Christian with faith has nothing to fear from the facts
