Frog leg trade, salamanders used as fishing bait

[zookeeperfrank]

Frog leg trade, salamanders used as fishing bait - terrible news; helping to spread Chytrid & Ranavirus http://bit.ly/PgDyly http://bit.ly/1iqrUkA http://bit.ly/1h4kkXw

 

[j_dunlavy]

Hi Frank,
Would you elaborate a little on the impact on western pond turtles.
You said in the article:
"Escapes from frog farms represent yet another spillover from the trade. Transplanted American Bullfrogs are now threatening local insects, amphibians and even rare turtles (Western Pond Turtles in California) in the western USA, Brazil, Japan and elsewhere."

Some of my fondest memories are of Lake Shasta where I have come across western toads the size of softballs, slow shallow backwater streams filled with thousands of large bullfrog tadpoles and the occasional western pond turtle lounging at the water's surface.

 

[zookeeperfrank]

Hi,

Here's some info re an ongoing conservation effort; Woodland park Zoo is also involved, and should have more posted on their home page, etc., Best, Frank

 

[j_dunlavy]

Thanks Frank.

I had been camping there (on a boat) in remote areas with my parents since I was a kid. It took about 10-12 years before I ever spotted one of these guys and then saw 2 in 2 different places in one week. Both were good sized and in remote areas of the Sacramento river arm, up stream fed, sheltered coves. I saw them around 1999 or 2000 while fishing for bass (no live bait, outside of earthworms was ever used by my family).

 

[zookeeperfrank]

Thanks Frank.

I had been camping there (on a boat) in remote areas with my parents since I was a kid. It took about 10-12 years before I ever spotted one of these guys and then saw 2 in 2 different places in one week. Both were good sized and in remote areas of the Sacramento river arm, up stream fed, sheltered coves. I saw them around 1999 or 2000 while fishing for bass (no live bait, outside of earthworms was ever used by my family).

Thanks..it's amazing how they can multiply if there are few predators; even in Bx Zoo ponds, which are within natural range but missing most tad and frog predators, populations explode...lg females may lay 20,000 eggs, and the tads are very hardy, eat everything! That's main reason they have been so widely exported for farming...but they are also escape artists...
Best, Frank

 

[j_dunlavy]

Thanks..it's amazing how they can multiply if there are few predators; even in Bx Zoo ponds, which are within natural range but missing most tad and frog predators, populations explode...lg females may lay 20,000 eggs, and the tads are very hardy, eat everything! That's main reason they have been so widely exported for farming...but they are also escape artists...
Best, Frank

guess I should have been frogging instead of fishing for dinner.

As a kid I did not know the impact like I do now. I can still picture that section of stream where I came across bullfrog tadpoles by the thousands; it blew my mind as to how many their were. They completely covered the stream bed, which was several hundred feet long and 20 or so feet wide, in between a short waterfall and the lake. It was near Sugarloaf resort in 1995 or 96 if my memory serves me correctly.

 

[zookeeperfrank]

guess I should have been frogging instead of fishing for dinner.

As a kid I did not know the impact like I do now. I can still picture that section of stream where I came across bullfrog tadpoles by the thousands; it blew my mind as to how many their were. They completely covered the stream bed, which was several hundred feet long and 20 or so feet wide, in between a short waterfall and the lake. It was near Sugarloaf resort in 1995 or 96 if my memory serves me correctly.

I believe it...workers once drained a moat around an exhibit at the Bx Zoo..they were called away and upon their return, hours later, they saw that the bottom was carpeted with bullfrog tads. I was called in at that point...they had been sitting exposed to the July sun for hours...top layer was mostly dead, but those below were quite lively.