diff --git a/modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/Registry.pm b/modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/Registry.pm
index e17fdd6b0a0f628c07e2fa68a8e86f9da7f1df6a..0a793fa1c86f1116707abb2a3a7a8ed3fda1cb32 100644
--- a/modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/Registry.pm
+++ b/modules/Bio/EnsEMBL/Registry.pm
@@ -2064,10 +2064,10 @@ sub find_and_add_aliases {
 sub load_registry_from_multiple_dbs {
   my ( $self, @args ) = @_;
 
-  my %merged_register;
+  my %merged_register = %registry_register;
 
   foreach my $arg (@args) {
-    local %registry_register = %registry_register;
+    local %registry_register;
 
     my $verbose;