Goldfish the size of dinner plates are multiplying in Alberta ponds

Goldfish found in the Alberta sewer system.
(Image credit: Twitter.com/CBCNews)

After discovering goldfish the size of dinner plates in ponds and canals, the government of Alberta, Canada, has a message for residents: Stop flushing your fish down the toilet.

The government is launching a new campaign called Don't Let It Loose, which will target people shopping at pet stores, aquarium supply stores, and Asian markets that sell live fish, letting them know they should never dispose of live — or dead — fish by flushing them or dumping them in ponds. Wilson said about one-third of invasive species that are threatening Alberta's native aquatic environments are from aquariums, and the government wants to get to the bottom of the problem. "Something weird is happening," she said. "It could be a group of people from somewhere else who are used to fishing for these kind of species which intentionally introduced them, which is highly illegal."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.