When are we going to realize that importing a species from one area into another, for _any_ reason, is simply asking for trouble? In Wiconsin we are getting into promoting purple loose strife beetles to cut back the growth of this (very pretty but) nasty wetland destruter. Remains to be seen yet if we got it right, or what else the beetles will decide to eat. Some people think that they understnd the interactions in nature today. But it’s a pretty complicated ecosystem world out there.

Jay

Except. . . it seeds through pips that pass through birds’ digestive tracts unchanged, and the thorny exuberant bushes will sprout anywhere: in the middle of pastures, in hayfields. It’s a bear to get rid of, too. Even goats won’t eat it. Fifty years after its introduction it’s an outright problem, and has been for most of those fifty years.

I’m sorry for the crocs, although they’re not my favorite species. But the lesson to be learned covers both the cane toads and the multiflora: unintended consequences of introducing strange species will get you, every time.