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Zebra Mussels invasion prevention

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department and the Wyoming Department of Agriculture recently convened a meeting of Wyoming's Invasive Mussel Response Team.

The team, formed by Gov. Mark Gordon, is a multi-agency effort to stop the spread of and limit impacts from invasive zebra mussels in Wyoming. 

Hot Springs State Park Superintendent Kevin Skates said that Game and Fish are really concerned about the zebra mussel invading the cooling ponds of the park and elsewhere.

Skates said, "It's an invasive species and they have discovered that they can come from moss balls that people are putting in their aquariums. They can buy moss balls at pet stores or over the internet."

Skates said that Hot Springs State Park is one of the first places Game and Fish thought about because these ponds have had over the last several years people dump their aquariums in here to turn their fish loose because the fish would survive here. They want to make sure the park has some signs put up immediately. 

Skates says there isn't a current contamination but the signs and notifying the public is a preventative measure. They haven't discovered them in the Big Horn River either. 

The danger of this contamination is that the mussels can grow so much that they take over the waterway and start choking out plant life and fish. All plant life and animals can go away. 

Contamination also occurs if you dump your aquariums and moss balls down the toilet, sinks and enter the sewage system or storm drainage system. 

 

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