CHEYENNE — Governor Mark Gordon has convened an emergency response team to mitigate impacts and seek solutions to the discovery of invasive zebra mussels in Wyoming. The team, led by Director Brian Nesvik of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and Director Doug Miyamoto of the Wyoming Department of Agriculture, is working to remove the products that carry zebra mussels and contain their potential spread.
Last week, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, for the first time in the state, found zebra mussels in aquatic algae products sold primarily in pet stores — known as moss balls. The mussels may be live and viable and have been on the market for an undetermined period of time. Subsequently, these mussels were found in over two dozen other states’ pet stores.