RAUK - Archived Forum - Frogs under threat at Carlton Marshes

Frogs under threat at Carlton Marshes

IT really is a frog's life.

Cast at the bottom of the food chain as a tasty morsel for everything from fish to foxes, the web-footed ones are increasingly subject to a new human threat û killing by kindness.

As spring arrives and frogs begin the mating game, their gluelike progeny clogs up many a pond prompting houseproud gardeners, loathe to kill them, to dump them elsewhere.

Many are choosing to deposit the frog spawn in to the wild at sites such as Carlton Marshes.

But the marshes are a site of special scientific interest home to rare aquatic creatures and the deposits are doing more harm than good by exposing the creatures to the risk of the deadly "red leg" virus which causes their limbs to blister and their fingers and toes to rot.

Cat Finlayson, education officer at the marshes, said moving frog spawn increases the risk of spreading the disease and also contaminates the area with other non-native plants.

"We have this problem every year," she said. "People get worried because they think they are going to have too many frogs.

"But even if you have 1000 frog spawn you will only get five frogs which make it to adulthood."

She said that volunteers had already caught four people dumping frog spawn and warned that it is illegal to introduce them in wildlife sites and you could get a ú1000 fine.

"People have access to this site and they are just coming down and dumping it," she said. "We have stopped a few and they are doing what they think is best for the frogs.

"What happens when they dump stuff from their ponds is that they bring plants which shouldn't grow here and are quite invasive."

EASTERN DAILY PRESS (Norfolk, UK)