Koi Carp in River

[Carol]

>:(I was in a local town today and saw people looking over a bridge into the river and there they were  2 huge Koi Carp.  Blue and white.  Poor things.  I know they will be worth lots of money, but why do people do things like that!!  I have done nothing about it, should I?  I wonder if they will survive but I am feeling so guilty about looking along with the other people.  They must have been about2ft long.  

[eileen]

Hi Carol,

We do get around don't we.  

We saw a couple of red-eared terrapins in the Almond years ago (when the Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles were all the rage) they were about the size of saucers. Someone must have got fed-up with them, or maybe they cost too much to feed and keep clean and warm, who knows! I tried fishing them out but didn't manage it and ended up calling the SSPCA out. The chap who arrived said that he'd had to rescue dozens (ranging in size from 1"  in diameter to the size of a large dinner plate!  

Why are people so cruel!    Animals aren't toys to be chucked away when you're fed up with them.    I really wish folk would think twice before buying the 'cute little things' out of petshops without knowing how to look after them or how big they grow and cost to take care of .

Oh dear - getting on my high horse again. SORRY but I get so annoyed with  all the neglect and cruelty inflicted on innocents!!

Eileen.

[Margaret]

Hi Carol and Eileen.Is it a river where people fish? I detest fishing with a vengeance,BUT surely if some one could be persuaded to try and get them out(probably the only way to catch them) with obviously a barbless hook and some means of then transporting them,plus a home lined up,it would be worth a go,surely.I expect they will survive,as they survive in cold ponds in the winter,but they won't be used to getting their own food.Also an unscrupulous fisherman,or some horrible ignorant kid,could fish them out and show them off as a rariity.Worth a try?

[Carol]

Margaret
Where is your jumping Santa Claus?  
I was thinking the Koi might be OK just now because they would be used to the cold water anyway.  They are in the River Gala a tributary of the River Tweed and it is a clean river now.  I will be reluctant to look next week in case they are still  there.  I may read in the local paper that they have been picked up.  My fish are not as big as that (about half the size) but I have about 50 -4" orfe.  I will have to find a home for them next summer.  A local garden centre dealing in garden ponds has offered to come along and clear out our Pond and remove the smaller orfe.