diff --git a/modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/DBSQL/GeneAdaptor.pm b/modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/DBSQL/GeneAdaptor.pm
index b1feb498169e80cd591ba9ce2b6685a954f306a2..1f342bad4dd823b5925cfa1d6c31ec9300d581ff 100644
--- a/modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/DBSQL/GeneAdaptor.pm
+++ b/modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/DBSQL/GeneAdaptor.pm
@@ -172,6 +172,7 @@ sub fetch_by_stable_id {
    $sth->execute($id);
 
    my ($dbID) = $sth->fetchrow_array();
+   $sth->finish;
 
    return undef if(!$dbID);