{"id":36216,"date":"2025-05-01T16:35:25","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T20:35:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=36216"},"modified":"2025-05-01T16:35:26","modified_gmt":"2025-05-01T20:35:26","slug":"invasive-goldfish-may-harm-breeding-of-arboretums-toads-and-frogs-resident","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/invasive-goldfish-may-harm-breeding-of-arboretums-toads-and-frogs-resident\/","title":{"rendered":"Invasive goldfish may harm breeding of Arboretum\u2019s toads and frogs: resident"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The farm pond in the Aurora Arboretum is a favourite strolling spot for Robert White.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A nature enthusiast from his earliest memory, he\u2019s always had an affinity for toads and frogs, and this pond is a prime breeding location for the amphibians in one of the Town\u2019s most expansive green spaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each spring, he regularly checks the pond for activities, eagerly anticipating breeding season and being able to watch the population grow from tadpole to adulthood \u2013 but a routine check-in last week left him alarmed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What he saw were \u201cmore than three dozen\u201d invasive goldfish populating the pond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether they were put there by someone wanting to offload some unwanted pets or deliberately knowing they are an invasive species is unclear. But, from White\u2019s perspective, what is certain is the future of the pond is anything but.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have monitored that pond probably close to 10 years, so I always look forward to it every spring,\u201d he tells The Auroran. \u201cI went to check to see if they happened to arrive yet \u2013 I didn\u2019t think they would have because they usually arrive at the beginning of May, but with this weather, you never know. That is going to have a very negative impact on the tadpole population in there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

White says he immediately alerted the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority, who referred him to the Ministry of Natural Resources. He also reached out to the Town of Aurora, who connected him with the Arboretum, but he says he\u2019s still waiting for follow-up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am hoping something gets done about it sooner rather than later because in two weeks the toads are going to arrive and they will all be breeding there,\u201d says White. \u201cThe tadpoles take less than a month to develop and then there are going to be tadpoles all over that pond and they are just going to get picked off by the goldfish.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

White doesn\u2019t know just when his fascination with amphibians was first sparked, but the Brampton native recalls going from house to house as a child \u201crescuing\u201d toads that had become trapped in neighbourhood window wells.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When he discovered the pond in the Arboretum, especially as it allows you to go right up to the edge of the water and get a \u201cbird\u2019s eye view\u201d of the growth, he couldn\u2019t help but be a repeat visitor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRight after the tadpoles fully develop, there are baby toads everywhere. There must be hundreds and hundreds of them that get run over by bikes and people walking,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ve always wondered if they could ever get the Town to seal off that pond for a week or two when the toads are still emerging. It\u2019s sad to see these little, tiny defenceless toads [out there]. People don\u2019t even notice them; they just walk right over them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe toads survive, they have a population there, but that is what I am worried about. If these goldfish start hammering off all the tadpoles, that can have a real impact on the toads\u2019 population numbers. It is not just the toads; there are also leopard frogs, green frogs, and bullfrogs that inhabit that pond. It\u2019s not good. The goldfish will absolutely eat the tadpoles. Worst case scenario, I\u2019ll get out there with a rod and a pole and try to get some of them out myself because they are invasive species. They don\u2019t belong there. That\u2019s the point and I think somebody intentionally released them so they could go and feed them, gaze at them or whatever. If they are not removed immediately, I am going to monitor it all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Town of Aurora says they are aware of the Issue and working with partners to address It.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are aware of the concerns around the sighting of invasive species within the Arboretum farm pond and are working with regulatory agencies to mitigate the potential impacts of the goldfish,\u201d said Carley Smith, Manager of Corporate Communications for the Town of Aurora. \u201cWe have reached out to local regulatory agencies and will proceed accordingly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI’d love to take the opportunity to remind residents that releasing of any fish, particularly invasive species such as goldfish is not permitted in any ponds or watercourses in Aurora, and doing so can have detrimental negative ecological impacts to aquatic habitat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Aurora Community Arboretum had not responded to requests for comment at press time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The farm pond in the Aurora Arboretum is a favourite strolling spot for Robert White. A nature enthusiast from his earliest memory, he\u2019s always had an affinity for toads and frogs, and this pond is a prime breeding location for the amphibians in one of the Town\u2019s most expansive green spaces. Each spring, he regularly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-9q8","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-22 02:07:51","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36216"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36217,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36216\/revisions\/36217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}