Category Archives: Invasive species

Delta blues: why estuaries are the canaries in the climate crisis coalmine

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These fragile ecosystems are where the impacts of the climate crisis are often felt first, say experts

The Ebro delta appears to be in robust health, to a casual observer. There is water gurgling in the canals and irrigation channels, and what appears to be a mighty river flowing into the sea. The dazzling green rice fields are dotted with ibis, egrets and redshanks.

However, all is not what it seems. The Ebro, the only one of Spain’s three great rivers that flows into the Mediterranean, is one of the most abused and exploited in Europe.

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Goldfish dumped in lakes grow to monstrous size, threatening ecosystems

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Minnesota pet owners warned not to release fish into wild, where they wreak havoc on native species

Authorities in Minnesota have appealed to aquarium owners to stop releasing pet fish into waterways, after several huge goldfish were pulled from a local lake.

Officials in Burnsville, about 15 miles south of Minneapolis, said released goldfish can grow to several times their normal size and wreak havoc on indigenous species.

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Feral deer in the headlines: Australia’s ‘slow-moving plague’ is finally being noticed

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Experts say now’s the time to get on top of the destructive impact of the invasive species on vulnerable ecosystems

If there is one thing beef cattle farmer Ted Rowley has learned while trying to manage feral deer on his property, it is this: for every deer that you see, there are at least another 10 that you can’t see.

“In the beginning you see a few deer and think that’s pretty cute,” he says. “But what you don’t see is the very large number that are across the landscape.”

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Iguanas with chips: Florida seeks solution to invasive reptile problem

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  • ‘Tag day’ initiative opposed by some owners of exotic pets
  • State official ‘proud that Florida is looked at as a leader’

From Key West’s high-summer Hemingway Days, in which bearded hopefuls vie for the title of best Papa lookalike, to the annual hunt for the elusive (and imaginary) skunk ape, Florida is renowned for its calendar of curiosities.

Related: Toilet-invading iguanas among invasive species now banned in Florida

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Spate of firecracker attacks on Taiwan’s invasive iguanas sparks alarm

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Rights group calls for action after cash bounty schemes lead to reptiles being blown up and shot with a bow and arrow

A spate of cruelty towards invasive iguanas in Taiwan including stuffing firecrackers in the reptiles’ mouths or shooting them with bows and arrows has prompted animal rights groups to call for a government crackdown.

The Environment & Animal Society of Taiwan (East) said local and provincial government campaigns to encourage community involvement in controlling the spread of introduced species lacked guidelines, resulting in “a chaotic free-for-all at the expense of the welfare of the targeted animals”.

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‘No predators, plenty to eat’: New Zealand struggles with plague of peacocks

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Farmers complain feral birds eat pasture their livestock depend on, and their numbers are increasing thanks to hunting of stoats and possums

A bird renowned around the world for its beauty has showed its ugly side by causing havoc on farms in New Zealand; eating crops, evading control efforts and driving landowners to distraction.

The jade and green peafowl, commonly known as the peacock, has become naturalised in New Zealand after what New Zealand Birds Online calls “benign neglect of birds kept for display”.

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Sowing doubt: people around world receive mystery seed parcels

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Packages marked as ‘earrings’ spark biosecurity concerns and global investigations into origins

There is not much that Jan Goward does not grow in her small Eastbourne garden. “I grow everything,” she says. “I’ve got the exotics: the aubergines, the chillies …”

But some mystery seeds she received in the post this week – ostensibly from Singapore, and marked as stud earrings – will not be joining them.

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Boom time for New Zealand’s rats as lockdown gives them free rein in cities

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With pest controllers in lockdown and a population surge last year, the vermin are free to wreak havoc in populated areas, and on native wildlife

Surrounded by ancient rimu trees and the sound of chirping pīwakawaka, Tame Malcolm brings in his second rat of the day from the dense undergrowth of his Auckland backyard. That’s four pests for his tally today – with only a few hundred thousand or so to go.

“It’s the first time my whānau [family] have got to see me doing pest control. I’ve been teaching the whānau that we do this to protect the birds,” says Malcolm, director of Māori-oriented biosecurity business Puna Consultants.

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‘Sea-borne invasion’ of wild boar swamps mystical Malaysian island

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Fishermen report seeing ‘snouts in the dark’ on Malacca Strait, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes

A mystical Malaysian island is grappling with a “sea-borne invasion” of wild boar, which some believe are swimming kilometres across one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes before destroying crops.

“The sea-borne invasion of wild boars leaves us in despair as the animal population is increasing,” said Norhizam Hassan Baktee, chairman of the Malacca agriculture committee, of the influx on the island of Pulau Besar.

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Cyprus begins lionfish cull to tackle threat to Mediterranean ecosystem

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Voracious fish are bleeding into ocean ‘like a cut artery’, says top marine biologist

Cyprus has held its first organised cull of lionfish after numbers of the invasive species have proliferated in recent years, threatening the Mediterranean ecosystem and posing a venomous danger to humans.

“They’re actually very placid,” said Prof Jason Hall-Spencer, a marine biologist, after spearing 16 of the exotic specimens in the space of 40 minutes in the inaugural “lionfish removal derby” off the island’s southern coast. He added: “The problem is they are not part of the natural ecosystem and we are seeing them in plague proportions.”

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