Bob Muller
Bob Muller
----- Original Message -----
From: "Becky Kendell" <appycowgirl34-in-yahoo.com>
To: <nanfa-l-in-nanfa.org>
Sent: Friday, August 25, 2006 11:37 PM
Subject: Re: NANFA-L-- Releasing (or not releasing) Fish: Some Suggestions
> <<Awareness -- As Todd mentioned, most casual fish keepers won't fully
understand the problems of releasing their pet fish. This gets right to the
"animal lover" vs. "environmentalist" issue I alluded to before. Most
aquarists would fall in the "animal lover" category, and believe it's a
positive thing to set their fish free rater than euthanize them. No matter
what you do, you're NEVER going to convince a lot of these folks to
euthanize their beloved fish.>>
>
> Sadly I think this is true. I just recently discovered NANFA, so I
don't know much about it. Do you have some kind of program, or at least
encourage members to educate the public on things like releasing fish? The
thing that discourages me is, if you have this kind of stuff on your
website, and say it in here, the only people who are listening are the ones
who are already interested in this kind of stuff.....you're just preaching
to the choir. How do you get to the people who think it's ok to just take
care of their pets by listening to what the pet store says? Those who don't
have the internet? I know there are people who just don't care, but there
are those who would care if they knew, I know that from experience. I have
always been concerned about this. I have the same concerns about reptiles,
amphibians, and fish who are sold to homes where people have no idea how to
care for them, or think they do because the pet store told them how (which
is often worse than
> just now knowing!) I want to get the word out there, but how do you
reach the people who aren't looking for this information?
>
> My opinion on the mention of asking pet stores to take in unwanted fish
is I doubt that would happen. There may be a few out there who would, but
lets face it, pet stores are out there to make money just like any other
business. Most of them, in my experience, especially the chain ones, don't
care what happens after the fish or other pet goes home. Actually with a
few of them, it seems like they WANT the fish to die so you come back and
get more, or come back and buy chemicals to "fix" your tank. I have
returned fish before, but it was only under the asumption that I had just
bought the fish within a week or so, it was from that store, and it was
acting healthy.
>
> I recently found out a coworker of mine has a juvenile common snapping
turtle as a pet. She found it as a tiny baby and now it is about the size
of a red-eared slider. I gave her a 55 gal. aquarium I had in my garage and
did some research on them and sent it to her. I told her one day it would
out-grow the 55, and she said she knew, she was just going to release it,
since it eats live food, it should be fine. I told her she can't do that,
and I explained why. I already know there is nowhere around here that would
take it. Another friend of mine found a ball python in his garage and
called everywhere he could think of, animal shelter, police, the local zoo
at the park, a local nature preserve, all the pet stores, no one would take
it.....being a snake lover, I took it and kept it until I found a home for
it. So I told the lady with the turtle that I would take it some day,
because I'd be willing to put the time in to find a home for it and I'd be
willing to care for
> it properly until then. But I know I just can't take every animal I feel
sorry for. What is there to do then?
>
> And then of course there is the problem of people who just don't care.
How do you stop them? The authorities don't seem to care much even for the
environmental issues there are laws against. They rarely even check fishing
lisences. I've never seen them doing that in fact. My mom had a boss years
ago who had a koi pond in his back yard. He was not an animal person
though, it was only for decoration. He didn't want to put the work into
keeping them alive during winter, so EVERY YEAR, he throws all his koi in
Lake Winnebago! When the carp were spawning this year, I did see koi. It
wasn't really bright, but it was definately yellow or white instead of brown
like the others. It pains me to think that the little bit I do....like
taking in the snapping turtle instead of letting it go back, is just
cancelled out a thousand times over by people like that.
>
> Anyways, I think i'll stop my vent/rant for now :)
>
> Becky
> Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail.
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/ This is the discussion list of the North American Native Fishes
/ Association (NANFA). Comments made on this list do not necessarily
/ reflect the beliefs or goals of NANFA. For more information about NANFA,
/ visit http://www.nanfa.org Please make sure all posts to nanfa-l are
/ consistent with the guidelines as per
/ http://www.nanfa.org/guidelines.shtml To subscribe, unsubscribe, or get
/ help, visit the NANFA email list home page and archive at
/ http://www.nanfa.org/email.shtml