07/10/2026
PLEASE DO NOT RELEASE PETS OR MOVE PLANTS OR ANIMALS FROM THEIR NATIVE HABITATS!
This summer, our newest animal ambassador has been making the rounds at local library outreach programs while helping us teach an important conservation message about invasive and nuisance species.
Our green iguana accidentally hitched a ride in a plant shipment from Miami, Florida, to Thomson, Georgia. In South Florida, green iguanas are an invasive species because of the pet trade. Although this iguana would not survive a Georgia winter if released, he still could have caused harm by introducing parasites or diseases to native reptiles and competing with local wildlife for food and other resources.
Did you know that even a small pet goldfish released into a pond or lake can grow much larger than expected, compete with native wildlife, spread disease, and disrupt entire ecosystems?
Whether it's a fish, turtle, lizard, frog, snake, bird, mammal, or even a favorite garden plant, never release pets into the wild or move plants and animals from one habitat to another. If you can no longer care for a pet, please find a responsible rehoming option instead.
Every small action makes a difference. By keeping wildlife where it belongs, we help protect Georgia's native plants, animals, and the habitats they depend on. 💚🌎
WildDraws
You didn't want the goldfish anymore. The bowl was too small. The tank was too much work. So you drove to the park, walked to the pond, and gently released her into the water. You felt good. She swam away. You thought you gave her a better life.
You introduced an invasive species that can trigger the collapse of an entire freshwater ecosystem.
A University of Missouri and University of Toledo study published in 2026 in the Journal of Animal Ecology provides some of the strongest experimental evidence to date: released goldfish grow rapidly in natural waters, reaching sizes that would shock most pet owners. They stir up lake sediments, cloud the water, consume massive numbers of native invertebrates, compete with native fish, and in documented cases cause what ecologists call a regime shift — a tipping point where the ecosystem reorganizes into a fundamentally degraded state that is extremely difficult to reverse.
In the Great Lakes region alone, feral goldfish populations are estimated in the tens of millions. The world record feral goldfish weighed nine pounds. The fish you held in your palm can become a football-sized ecological disaster in open water.
Goldfish eat dragonfly nymphs, tadpoles, native fish eggs, snails, and aquatic invertebrates. Every organism they consume was either controlling mosquitoes, pollinating, filtering water, or feeding something native. The pond you "freed" her into is now a degraded system — and it may never fully recover.
If you no longer want a goldfish: return it to the pet store. Give it to another fishkeeper. Contact local wildlife authorities. Do not release it. Not into a pond, a lake, a river, a ditch, or a storm drain.
The most common pet in the world is one of the most destructive invasive species on Earth.
