I have decided to do this post because I was one of the irresponsible pet owners. I abandoned my red eared terrapins many years back. My dear terrapins are William and Sammy. At that point of time, I still thought that I was doing a good deed by releasing my animals back to the wild. I loved my terrapins but they were growing at a speed my storage container could not hold them in anymore. Naughty Sammy had escape from his "house" and every time he does that, I would change their "house"to a bigger storage box. But they grew till this point that unless I fix a pond in the house, there was no way I could keep them anymore.
It was until I joined the docent program that I discovered that red eared terrapins are considered as pest. They are so overpopulated in the wild that native turtle species have to compete with them for food and resources. As a result, the number of native turtle species dwindled over the years.
If only someone told me that, I would not have bought my terrapins. They probably would have died in the pond by now. They were always so well fed by me when they were at home. But now they have to compete for survival with the rest of the terrapins.
How do alien species get introduced into Singapore?
1) commerce related pathway
pet/aquarium trade or the live food trade
2) travel related pathway
'hitch' hiking' on various transportation modes or in packaging materials
3) alien species for biological control of disease vectors
If you are interested to find out more about alien species in Singapore, do click on the below links.
Related articles:
http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/6-alien-species-which-can-now-be-found-in-singapores-reservoirs
http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/pub/naturewatch/text/a063b.htm
http://mothership.sg/2015/05/8-non-native-animal-species-that-have-made-spore-home/
