THE STANDARD (St Catherines, Ontario) 11 August 07 Cat drags in six-legged frog (Grant LaFleche)
They call it Number Six.
It was nearly destroyed by a siamese cat named Zenia who was intent on using it as her latest plaything.
The "it" in question? A frog found in the backyard pond of Donald O'Connor and Martha Burden, who live on Line 5 in Niagara-on-the-Lake.
Lots of frogs and toads call the pond home.
But Number Six is a little different.
Its name is a reflection of the number of legs the tiny amphibian has.
The animal was born with a mutation that has led to it growing two extra legs out of its hindquarters.
The legs don't appear to be functional, but their appearance Thursday afternoon startled Burden nevertheless.
"The cat often goes after the frogs in the pond," he said.
"They don't eat them they just play with them. So I try to rescue as many as I can."
After rescuing the frog, Burden noticed the two extra legs.
"At first I thought the cat had two frogs," she said.
"But no, it has six legs."
The extra legs dangle off the back of the frog, but O'Connor said he has noticed one of them move.
For now, the couple is keeping the frog in a perforated bucket that sits in the pond.
"We'll probably just put him back, but maybe I'll put him on EBay," O'Connor joked.
http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/webapp/sitepages/search/results.asp?contentid=649547&catname=Local News&type=search&search1=frogs
