Posted on 06/27/2022 11:09:52 AM PDT by SJackson
Europe imports up to 200 million mostly wild frogs every year. The giant African bullfrog (pictured) may already be extinct in Swaziland. Photograph: Nature Picture Library/Alamy
A voracious appetite for frogs’ legs among the French and Belgians is driving species in Indonesia, Turkey and Albania to the brink of extinction, according to a report.
Europe imports as many as 200 million mostly wild frogs every year, contributing to a serious depletion of native species abroad.
Scientists estimate that the Anatolian water frog could be extinct in Turkey by 2032, because of over-exploitation while other species such as the Albanian water frog are now threatened.
Export quotas for Indonesia’s Javan frog have also been withdrawn in a move that conservationists suspect may be as a result of population depletion.
Dr Sandra Altherr, the cofounder of the conservation charity Pro Wildlife, which co-authored the report said: “In Indonesia, as now also in Turkey and Albania, large frog species are dwindling in the wild, one after the other, causing a fatal domino effect for species conservation.”
“If the plundering for the European market continues, it’s highly likely that we will see more serious declines of wild frog populations and, potentially, extinctions in the next decade.”
Charlotte Nithart, the president of the French NGO Robin desBois, which co-wrote the paper, said: “Frogs play a central role in the ecosystem as insect killers and where frogs disappear, the use of toxic pesticides is increasing. Hence, the frogs’ legs trade has direct consequences not only for the frogs themselves, but for biodiversity and ecosystem health as a whole.”
Amphibians are the most threatened group among vertebrates, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature , and the EU’s habitats directive prevents native wild frogs from being caught in member countries.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
No thank you to frog legs. I still remember the smell of formaldehyde from my last dissection.
I like them too but, I wont kill them just for the legs and plus, there isnt enough difference in them and the little legs on chicken wings to make it worth the trouble. IMHO!
Where’s Pepe?
I came here for the pictures of Pepe.
Import the brightly colored ones from the amazon, it will be sort of like a French version of Fugu.
And if you don’t eat frogs you’re not French....
Or Cajun.
Fried frog legs with remoulade sauce. Bingo good.
Cane Toads and they came from Hawaii.
Let them eat cake.
Do “toad” legs taste the same?
The problem with the toads is that they are poisonous. There is a way to clean them to make them safe but apparently few want to go to the trouble or risk learning.
Something about this story doesnt seem right.
I lived in Europe for a while and as I travelled around I ate a lot of frogs.
Not once did I get anything resembling what we think of as a frogs leg. The frogs they serve are tiny little tree peeper type things. The hips and both legs are still attached. They have to be just to be able to get enough meat in your mouth at once to be able to distinguish that there is meat not just sauce. They seemed pretty much uniform in size suggesting the same type everywhere and likely of the same approximate age as though they were farmed.
Admittedly that was quite a few years ago and I dont know the history of frog legs in Europe or what has happened since but I cant be the only one around here that has experienced that. If there is truth to this amphibian apocalypse then I suggest that it must have happened long ago and if it wasnt long ago where did all those seemingly farmed ones go since I was there?
I remember being told that frogs are an “indicator species”, and that when frog populations go down it means the ecosystem is being destroyed. I think this is the first article I’ve seen in my whole life that acknowledges that other factors, like hunting, could be in play.
I triple frog dare ya!
The obvious question that comes along is, what do they call the rest of the frog?
Meals on wheels?
Here in South Jersey you can hear them from 1\2 mile sway. My brothers when young us to go out frothing all the time.
Damn auto correct.
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