Why You Should Never Flush Your Goldfish Down the Toilet

And we're not talking about the cheesy snack crackers. We're talking about the little swimming things you take home in a plastic baggie and try to keep alive for as long as you can, but then end up neglecting until they get too big and then you decide to flush them down the toilet.

DON'T DO THAT.

A U.S. Fish and Wildlife service employee recently caught a 14-pound goldfish in the Niagara River, leading to this statement from a prominent nonprofit organization: “Goldfish can survive year-round in our watershed and can destroy the habitat of native fish,” Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper wrote on its site, estimating "that tens of millions of goldfish live in the Great Lakes.”

The massive goldfish pictured was recently caught downstream from a wastewater treatment plant. Here's what you should do if you can't keep and care for a goldfish: return it to the store instead of flushing or releasing it into the wild. so...don't flush.