Thank-you for the recent story on invasive species. Certainly the American Bullfrog is one species that seems to have really gotten away on us, a very serious situation from what I’ve read.
And seemingly ignored by government agencies, who were well aware of the situation years ago and did little to stop their spread throughout the Island. Getting rid of them now is a massive challenge but should be done.
There is one other alien not mentioned in your story, the common house cat. I’m not talking about the feral variety which is a whole other situation. The common house cat let loose by their owners to prey on anything that flies, crawls or slithers has a tremendous impact on the local ecology.
The impact North American wide is in the tens of millions of creatures killed by house cats. Which, by the way, breaks local Qualicum Beach municipal bylaws and provincial wildlife laws, maybe even federal bylaws designed to protect wildlife from harassment, injury or killing by domestic pets — and that includes cats.
How about asking our bylaw officers and conservation officers how many tickets they given out to pet (cat) owners in the last 10 years? My bet it is somewhere around zero.
Gordon BrowneQualicum Beach
