It's actually quite scary just how fast something that seems perfectly sound can turn out to be an ecological disaster.
A couple way up the valley near the headwaters of the major feeder burn to the Clyde had a duck pond....and they brought in signal crayfish to feed the ducks.
Thing is though, signal crayfish will happily escape a pond and go walkabout to find other waters...and these ones did so.
They are now rife in every burn and river that feeds the major river that drains half the Scottish lowlands.
All because folks thought that the wee crayfish would feed their ducks.
The signal crayfish have pretty much wiped out the native ones, and they predate every other water living species in their endless hunger.
Repeat that across the country and it's all too easy to see how invasive species cause grief.
A couple way up the valley near the headwaters of the major feeder burn to the Clyde had a duck pond....and they brought in signal crayfish to feed the ducks.
Thing is though, signal crayfish will happily escape a pond and go walkabout to find other waters...and these ones did so.
They are now rife in every burn and river that feeds the major river that drains half the Scottish lowlands.
All because folks thought that the wee crayfish would feed their ducks.
The signal crayfish have pretty much wiped out the native ones, and they predate every other water living species in their endless hunger.
Repeat that across the country and it's all too easy to see how invasive species cause grief.