Bozeman Aquatic Pet Event Aims To Keep Invasive Species Out Of Montana Waterways

BOZEMAN, Mont. — A free aquatic animal re-homing event in Bozeman is meant to help pet owners avoid releasing unwanted animals into Montana waterways.  

Montana’s Invasive Species Action Network announced its fourth free aquatic animal re-homing event, set for April 28 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Montana State University’s Romney Oval.  

Sara Ricklefs, executive director of the Invasive Species Action Network, said the service is designed for pet owners who may have a harder time re-homing aquatic pets, rather than more traditional pets like cats or dogs.  

“Cats and dogs tend to be easier to re-home than kind of our scaley, finned pets are, and so we just wanted to be able to provide this service to pet owners in need, to keep aquatic pets out of our waters,” said Ricklefs.  

The event allows people to surrender pets they can no longer keep so the animals could be re-homed with help from pet stores and animal rescue groups across the state.  

Ricklefs said the group’s ‘Don’t let it loose’ program focuses on helping pet owners make responsible choices and find resources to re-home pets instead of releasing them into waterways. 

“We at Invasive Species Action Network run the ‘Don’t let it loose’ program, and that program is aimed at helping pet owners make responsible choices and make sure that they have the resources they need to re-home their pets rather than release them into waterways, and our objective for that is to keep invasive species out of our waters,” said Ricklefs.  

Tom Woolf, the Aquatic Invasive Species Bureau Chief with Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks, says harmful practices like dumping aquariums can introduce invasive species into local habitats and environments.  

“People that dump aquariums, it’s a great way to introduce invasive species and this same kind of thing, you know? Those invasives are introduced and then they just take over our habitat and environment. That’s why we push that ‘don’t let it loose’ message, to encourage people not to do that,” said Woolf.  

Among the invasive species that are prevalent in Montana are goldfish.  

They have been introduced multiple times in Montana, with 15 observations in places including Silver Bow and Stillwater counties most recently within the last five years. They are especially dangerous to native species found in Montana waters, as they can change the water quality where they reside once introduced.  

Woolf says aquatic invasive species can affect habitat, ecosystems, fisheries and native species by out-competing species people want to protect. 

“Aquatic invasive species impact habitat, ecosystems, our native species, and our native environment out there. They threaten fisheries. They tend to out-compete our desirable species, and so we end up with a lot of the invasive things that we don’t want,” said Woolf.  

Pond Sliders, or semi-aquatic turtles are another invasive threat to species that are native to the Treasure State.  

According to fieldguide.mt.gov, there have been 16 observations of the turtle in Missoula and Gallatin counties within the last five to 10 years.  

The Invasive Species Action Network says people can surrender fish, turtles, frogs and aquatic plants at the April re-homing event.