FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 27, 2003 Contact: Julia Dixon Smith
Telephone: (804) 367-0991
(RICHMOND, VA) - The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries
(VDGIF)
has charged a Richmond pet shop manager with violating a regulation
prohibiting the possession and sale of exotic, non-native species
without a
permit. If convicted, Christopher Backus, fish department manager of The
Pet
Club on Parham Road could face up to $1,000 in fines for possessing and
attempting to sell a snakehead fish.
A VDGIF biologist, on receiving a tip from a member of the public about
the
illegal fish, turned the information over to the Department's game
wardens
for investigation. The fish had evidently been purchased at the same
store
prior to a regulation revision that added snakehead fish to the list of
predatory and undesirable species became effective on January 1, 2003.
The
owner turned the fish back in to the pet store claiming it had grown too
big
for his fish tank. The pet store then put the fish up for sale again.
The fish was initially identified by a VDGIF biologist and confirmed by
Dr.
Walter R. Courtenay, with the U.S. Geological Survey's Center for
Aquatic
Resource Studies and the country's leading expert on snakeheads. He
verified
that the animal was a cobra snakehead (Channa marulius). Dr. Courtenay
worked
with Maryland and North Carolina last summer in their efforts to
identify and
to eradicate snakehead fish in those states. The fish was seized by game
wardens.
Native to Asia and Africa, snakehead fish have no natural predators in
the
United States and pose significant threats to native wildlife
communities in
this country. The animals are capable of moving short distances on land
and
can withstand extreme weather conditions. They are sold in the pet trade
worldwide and favored as a food fish in many cultures.
Game wardens also charged Backus with possession and attempting to sell
another illegal exotic animal species, the clawed frog (Xenopus spp.).
Wardens seized 10 albino clawed frogs. Backus is expected to appear in
court
on March 27. Game wardens are currently investigating several cases of
possession of illegal exotic species.
Virginia State Game Wardens seized an illegal cobra snakehead at a pet
store
in the Richmond area.
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