A handful of people in Hailey thought their eyes were playing tricks.  They were seeing goldfish in Heagle Pond.  They were right.  Someone had dumped the pet fish into the water.  Then the animals multiplied.  The fish multiplied a lot!  Perhaps into the thousands.  These fish got down to begetting, knowing each other in a biblical sense.

Idaho Fish and Game was called.  The fish could end up in a nearby river during a flood situation and create havoc with the ecosystem. The agency responded and cleaned out the pond in a matter of minutes.  There was also an additional surprise.

Goldfish are individually small but tens of thousands suddenly feeding in a river could be devastating.

You can learn more by clicking below on the goldfish YouTube video.  It’s one of two videos posted today after a conversation with Terry Thomas.  He’s a spokesman for Fish and Game.

The second video deals with elk depredation and plans to move some elk from one location to another.  Others may also be destroyed and the meat will feed the poor.

Thompson appears twice monthly as a guest on Newsradio 1310, KLIX and Magic Valley This Morning.

Some may criticize the method used in removing the fish from the pond.  You should know invasive species so altered the food chain in parts of Yellowstone Park that it forced grizzly bears to find other food sources.  Many of the fish the bears normally ate were suddenly in short supply.  The bears then turned to satiating their hunger by bringing down elk.

Goldfish are individually small but tens of thousands suddenly feeding in a river could be devastating.

*******************************************************************************

UPDATE:  YouTube had a burr in its backside.  I tried loading videos 3 times on two different channels and the videos were rejected for "terms of service".  Finally, I removed the station logo from the videos and replaced the image with pictures of my own.  The videos loaded!  Unfortunately, the only fish pictures I've got are sturgeon.  Somewhat larger than goldfish, although.  You'll now be able to actually hear Terry Thompson from Fish and Game explain the killing of the fish and how to get a rain check for hunting Unit 54.

More From News Radio 1310 KLIX