Friday, August 06, 2004

And now, for something a little different

As a bit of a digression from beating up on Republicans, we turn our attention to the animal kingdom, to another similarly ugly, bottom-dwelling, parasitic species with no discernible social value: the northern snakehead fish.

It's just another depressing story of how an imported species is now threatening North American waterways. From this article in the Globe and Mail:

Since the first northern snakehead fish turned up in a pond in Maryland two years ago, fisheries officials across the United States have been attempting to stop the spread of a fish that is a favourite in some Asian restaurants and popular among some tropical fish owners...

... The worry is that if snakeheads get a firm foothold in U.S. waterways, they will upset the ecological balance. "They would eat bass. They would compete for habitat and they would eat the same food that bass would eat and they could bring in ailments and parasites," ...

Ouch. When it comes to protecting and preserving the environment, it seems it's just one damned thing after another.

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