Thursday, February 17, 2005

Slip Sliding Away in Australia

It's hard for me to think of the red-eared slider (Trachemys scripta) - cute but water-polluting pet, native American turtle - as an invasive species. But the ISW has already featured stories about the problems this species is causing in Asia. Now there's this story from Australia's National Nine News, and they actually refer to the sliders as "cane toad-like" turtles (that is not a compliment). Seems the turtles, introduced as pets to the continent about a decade ago, were accidentally/intentionally released and have since become established in the wild. Wildlife officials have been trapping the creatures and note that their range is expanding.

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