How a 12-Year-Old Girl’s Science Project Changed the Way Scientists See Lionfish

[iscooterliberally]

12. Actually Andrew did release a lot of animals, but they were mostly birds from what I heard.

Most of the non-native species were released from the Miami Metro Zoo. The zoo used to have a huge bird aviary that was destroyed in the storm and all the birds got loose. We now have many Asian species of birds that reside in the Everglades. Anyway, Andrew was part of the problem, but the biggest part was probably the pet store business. Too many people with pets that they shouldn't really have in this environment. This isn't a problem so much up north were most of the species cannot survive. I heard one store about 3 or 4 years ago where people in Massachusetts found an alligator on the Charles river. Of course the alligator would not survive it's first winter up there. Nor would most of the other reptiles that run around down here.