Reptile & Amphibian Forums

From "Partners in Reptile and Amphibian Conservation":

To Members of PARC

PARC Administrators
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Brad Chambers
WWW.HCU-TX.ORG

Breeder of:
Green Tree Pythons
Jungle Carpet Pythons
Pastel, Pinstripe, FIRE, Piebald, Clown, Lavender Albino, Leucistic, and Spider Ball Pythons
Striped Colombian Boa Constrictors
Kenyan, Rufescens, and Conicus Sand Boas
Red Phase Western Hognose Snakes
Spider Western Hognose Snakes
Albino Western Hognose Snakes
Locality Trans-Pecos Mexican Hognose Snakes
Southern Hognose Snakes
Eastern Hognose Snakes
Tricolor Hognose Snakes
Hypo Checkered Garter Snakes
Eastern Blackneck Garter Snakes
Stillwater Hypo Bullsnakes
Patternless Bullsnakes
S. GA Eastern Kingsnakes
Locality Desert Kingsnakes
Albino Desert Kingsnakes
Hypo Desert Kingsnakes
Mexican Black Kingsnakes
Desert Phase, Striped Desert, Newport, and Coastal California Kingsnakes
Locality Mexican Milksnakes
Spotted Mexican Milksnakes
Tangerine Mexican Milksnakes
Locality Alterna
Abbott Okeetee Cornsnakes
Mexican Baird's Ratsnakes
Cape Housesnakes
Tangerine Albino African Fat -Tailed Geckos
Locality Spotted Turtles

FROM THE SAME ISSUE OF HERPDIGEST:
HerpDigest Volume # 10 Issues 26 6/4/10 (A Not-for-Profit Publication)

7) California Upholds Ban On The Importation Of Non-Native Frogs And Turtles - Measure Will Reduce The Number Of Invasive Species And Infectious Diseases Harming Native Wildlife

Santa Cruz, CA - 23-May-2010. The California Fish & Game Commission
last Thursday voted 3-2 to uphold their recently instated ban on the
importation of non-native frogs & turtles for use as food. The ban,
intended to reduce the influx of harmful invasive species into the
state, drew significant criticism from San Francisco’s Chinese
community, one of the United States’ largest consumers of frog legs
and turtles. This in turn prompted yesterday’s re-consideration
hearing in a Sacramento room that was filled to capacity with
legislators, businessmen, nonprofit representatives and other members
of the public eager to speak their view on the matter.

Frog populations worldwide have been declining at unprecedented rates,
and nearly one-third of the world's amphibian species are threatened
with extinction. Up to 200 amphibian species have completely
disappeared in recent years and California is home to 16 threatened
amphibian species. The frog leg trade is responsible for the spread of
infectious diseases and invasive species that damage California’s
ecosystems, according to Santa Cruz-based public charity SAVE THE
FROGS! (www.savethefrogs.com), who led the campaign to maintain the
Fish & Game Commission’s April 8th ban. The group’s supporters sent
nearly 1,200 letters to the Department of Fish & Game this week.

SAVE THE FROGS! Founder Dr. Kerry Kriger testified at the Commission's
hearing, highlighting the spread of infectious disease and invasive
species that inevitably accompany the frog legs trade. “Several
million American Bullfrogs farmed overseas are imported into
California for food each year. A recent study showed that over 60% of
these frogs are infected with a deadly chytrid fungus that has
decimated frog populations in the Sierra Nevada range.” The fungus,
which causes a potentially lethal skin disease called
chytridiomycosis, has caused the extinction of up to 100 amphibian
species worldwide. Furthermore, says Dr. Kriger “bullfrogs and turtles
regularly escape or are purposely set free into the wild. They
establish populations and damage local ecosystems by eating native
frogs and other wildlife.”

San Francisco-based legislators Leland Yee, Fiona Ma and Ted Lieu
testified in opposition to the ban, stating that it would damage the
economy and that it discriminated against the Chinese community and
their 5,000 year old history of eating frogs and turtles. However, the
vast majority of frogs the Chinese-American community is eating are
American Bullfrogs, which have only a very recent history in Chinese
cuisine.

“Cultures necessarily evolve: if they did not, we would have long
since eaten the buffalo and the California Red-Legged Frog to complete
extinction, as we did the passenger pigeons”, said Dr. Kriger. “As
Americans, we are fortunate to have many choices of food, and thus it
is our responsibility to act wisely and ensure that our culinary
decisions are not unduly impacting our natural heritage and the future
of our planet.”

Americans consume 20% of the world’s frog legs, and scientists
estimate that over a hundred million frogs are taken out of the wild
each year for food. SAVE THE FROGS! last month convinced San
Francisco’s upscale Restaurant Gary Danko to remove the frog legs from
the restaurant’s menu. The group, which organizes the annual Save The
Frogs Day events, recently held the world’s first protests in defense
of frog populations – at four east coast restaurants that refuse to
stop serving frog legs.

More information on the frog leg trade can and on the ban can be found at:
http://savethefrogs.com/frog-legs
http://bit.ly/ca-frog-legs-ban

Contact:
Kerry Kriger, Ph.D.
SAVE THE FROGS! Founder, Executive Director and Ecologist
Phone: (831) 621-6215
E-mail: contact@savethefrogs.com

About SAVE THE FROGS!
SAVE THE FROGS! (http://www.savethefrogs.com) is America’s first and
only public charity dedicated to amphibian conservation. Based in
Santa Cruz, CA, the mission of SAVE THE FROGS! is to protect amphibian
populations and to promote a society that respects and appreciates
nature and wildlife.
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer

Don't they farm raise some of the bull frogs? A lot of the ponds here in TX get over run with bull frogs that then eat all of the smaller frogs.
Well if they stop people from eating frogs then that's one more step closer to a vegan USA.
I could see reducing wild take but they can farm raise bull frogs pretty easily.
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Noah was the first snake collector. ~Eric~

Yes. Bullfrogs are somewhat harmful to the environment if not effectively controlled by natural predators. They eat everything they can get in their mouths.

I've actually seen a baby Southern Painted Turtle come from the stomach of one being dissected in Biology lab.

I'm pretty sure that California Fish and Wildlife was instrumental in establishing populations in California. Now they want to blame others. Who'd a thunk it?

I even suspect the local Gulf Coast Toads of eating my hatchling turtles from time to time. I always remove them from my property. They can get pretty big for a toad.

jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer