Defenders of Wildlife Blog

Houston toad

Recently, wildfires raged throughout Bastrop State Park–considered the last remaining stronghold for the Houston toad featured in our recent “Can’t Live Without ‘Em” blog. Biologists are currently investigating the damage to the toad’s habitat and population. Hopefully these resourceful critters aren’t among the things we lost in the fire. Firefighters worked tirelessly to save the 6,000-acre Bastrop State Park after fires burned through much of the area located just east of Austin, Texas. According to reports, more than 1,000 homes have been destroyed throughout the affected area along with buildings and habitats inside Bastrop State Park. Read the full article.

Watch the full story as Texas Wildlife officials try to stop the blaze:

Houston toad

A weekly homage to endangered species, large and small.

(Based on research by Ben Ikenson)

Houston toads are an endangered species native to the midlands of Texas. Masters of disguise, they can range in color from bluish- grey to speckled red, or even dark brown and black. These little guys don’t have powerful hind legs like frogs so they rely heavily on camouflage and their poisonous skin secretions to protect them from predators. Adult females grow up to four inches long (males are slightly smaller). During scorching hot summers and bitter winters, the toads bury their tiny bodies under loose sand and hibernate to protect themselves from the extreme weather.

Unfortunately, one threat these miniature marvels can’t seem to outwit is industrialization. Rapid development in Houston, Texas and the surrounding areas has destroyed much of the toad’s habitat. Wetlands were replaced by roads, and forests were replaced by shopping centers as cities grew. By the 1960s, the toads had seemingly vanished. Once thought to number in the tens of thousands, some researchers estimated that there were as few as 3,000 Houston toads remaining. In 1970, they were federally listed as an endangered species with habitat loss cited as the primary cause of decline. Some isolated populations of the toad in and around Houston had been completely wiped out. And although the toads are now protected under the Endangered Species Act, the largest remaining population in Bastrop County is still under intense threat from urban development according to reports from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

WHAT GOOD ARE THEY?

You’ll probably never hear a doctor say “lick two toads and call me in the morning,” but toads are known to carry toxins that are pharmaceutically important. Many modern medicines contain active ingredients derived from these chemicals. The Houston toad in particular, secretes serotonin—an essential chemical in our brains—and alkaloids used to treat heart and neurological disease. The alkaloids are thought to have analgesic properties quite possibly more powerful than morphine.

Of course, their chemical cures aren’t their only talent. Houston toads help manage the ecosystem by keeping the insect population down. And despite their many defense mechanisms, spiders, raccoons, turtles, snakes, owls, and even fire ants have been known to prey on the amphibians. However with so few toads to study, it’s hard for scientists to accurately estimate the Houston toad’s impact on the environment. Often toads provide key linkages in nutrient cycles because they carry substances from the water to land during metamorphosis from the tadpole stage to being fully terrestrial adults.

As studies continue, Houston toads might prove valuable in other ways to the environment and for practical uses like medicine.

Still despite their helpfulness, urbanization and even agricultural development continue to intrude on the toad’s habitat. Recently more and more forests have been turned into fields or pastures for farming. Unfortunately, livestock often overgraze these areas and leave the toads with little resources for food and shelter. But there are ways that people can help. Replanting native bunchgrasses instead of sod-forming plants and limiting livestock numbers can help the toad’s populations grow in these areas. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and USFWS jointly prepared a brochure for private landowners who wish to implement their agricultural practices in ways that are compatible with the needs of the Houston toad. With the assistance and involvement of a dedicated community, perhaps these little amphibians will be able to make the leap from brink of disaster to the threshold of recovery.

Recently, wildfires have raged throughout Bastrop State Park–considered the last remaining stronghold for the Houston toad. Read the  full article here.

Defenders of Wildlife and numerous zoos across the country are in a fight for the lives of frogs. That’s right. The critters that mesmerized many of us as children are in trouble.  Chytrid fungus, a deadly skin disease, has struck many species of frogs, and is spreading through Central America at an average rate of about 30 km per year. This is a race against the clock, with survival of the worldwide amphibian population in jeopardy.

Already, the disease has wiped out 90 species all over the world, including Puerto Rico, the United States, Australia, Central and South America. Defenders is working with scientists that are on the ground in Panama, capturing frogs before chytrid reaches them and searching for a cure.

Learn More

Read part one of a two-part series on the challenges we are facing to stop this deadly disease.

Check out some pictures of the diverse array of frogs.

Read more about this project in Defenders magazine.

Frog Leg Trade Decimates Species and Causes Ecological Chaos
New report highlights dangers of international frog leg trade

WASHINGTON, D.C./MUNICH (July 26, 2011) – International wildlife conservation groups Pro Wildlife, Defenders of Wildlife, and the Animal Welfare Institute, issued a report today titled Canapés to Extinction: The international trade in frogs’ legs and its ecological impact. The report is the first comprehensive study of the frog leg market ever conducted and reveals an industry that is systematically devastating frog populations throughout the world and, subsequently, causing severe environmental impacts to natural ecosystems.

“Humans have been eating frogs for ages. But today the practice is not sustainable on a global scale,” said Alejandra Goyenechea, acting director of international conservation programs for Defenders of Wildlife. “Billions of frogs are traded internationally each year for human consumption, and that industry is responsible for depleting wild populations, spreading deadly disease, and allowing invasive species to destroy the health of native ecosystems.”

In recent years, the United States has imported an average of 2,280 tonnes (4.6 million pounds) of frog legs each year—the equivalent of 456 million to 1.1 billion frogs—and another 2,216 tonnes (4.4 million pounds) of live frogs for Asian-American markets. Most frog and frog leg imports to the U.S. come from China, Taiwan, Ecuador, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Vietnam, Mexico and Indonesia.

During the last decade, the European Union imported an average of 4,600 tonnes (9.2 million pounds) of frog legs each year—the equivalent of 1 to 2.3 billion frogs. Indonesia is the world’s leading supplier, providing 84 percent of total imports to the EU with the vast majority of frogs being caught in the wild. Belgium, France and the Netherlands are the top importers in the EU.

“The decline of many frog species is a global problem that is being greatly accelerated by just a handful of European nations,” said Sandra Altherr, director of wildlife programs for Pro Wildlife in Germany. “The capture and killing of native frogs is prohibited within the EU, so it is incomprehensible that we would be supporting environmentally disastrous practices abroad.”

American bullfrog

Until the mid-1980s, India and Bangladesh dominated the international frog leg export market. Severe exploitation resulted in the collapse of many wild frog populations in those countries, including two of the most sought-after species, the green pond frog and the Indian bullfrog. In turn, the decline of those species resulted in a dramatic increase in the use of pesticides, due to an explosion of insects and other agricultural pests previously kept in check by frogs. In 1985, the two frog species were protected with an Appendix II listing under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). India and Bangladesh subsequently banned exports, their native species have since recovered and the use of pesticides has been reduced.

However, in recent years, other countries have stepped in to fill the void and their frog populations appear to be headed for a similar fate. Indonesia, where billions of frogs are taken from the wild annually, and to a lesser extent China, Taiwan and Vietnam, where frogs are farmed very intensively, have now taken over the export market.

“We must take immediate action to protect frog species from being exploited for international trade,” said D.J. Schubert, a wildlife biologist with the Animal Welfare Institute. “Wild populations across Asia are already in trouble, and unregulated trade puts native species in the U.S. at even greater risk from deadly diseases that have been wreaking havoc on amphibians worldwide. It will take a coordinated effort from governments and the world’s conservation community to prevent the extinction of imperiled frog species and to protect our native species from harmful invasives.”

The report will be distributed to key government decision-makers, including those responsible for the implementation of CITES, with a request that they take immediate action to bring this unregulated trade under control.  Considering that the frog species dominating the frog leg trade are not currently protected under CITES, there is an urgent need for governments to secure CITES protections for them.

Click here to download the full report.

Believe it or not, African lions were making news in Switzerland last week. Though Defenders mostly focuses on domestic species that need our help, we also have a lean and mean team of international conservation experts that work hard to save imperiled species that not only need protection in the US but also around the globe. And last week, Defenders’ International Counsel, Alejandra Goyenechea, traveled to Geneva to help make a case for protecting species that are at risk due to the global wildlife trade.

The CITES Animals Committee convenes for its 25th meeting in Geneva, Switzerland last week.

Alejandra attended the 25^th meeting of the Animals Committee of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). This body of scientific experts provides advice and guidance to the Conference of the Parties, working groups and the Secretariat, which are ultimately responsible for enacting laws to protect imperiled wildlife from exploitation through international trade. Defenders was there to advocate for international trade that does not affect the survival of imperiled species, such as lions, sharks and frogs.

We don’t hear about it as often in the United States, but countless species are farmed, hunted or trapped and then shipped across borders as food, trophies, pets and medicinal products. Many of these practices are extremely unsustainable and threaten not only the populations that are being harvested, but also the native species where the animals are imported. Exotic pets, for example, are often released into the wild when their owners can no longer care for them. Some species, like Burmese pythons and Asian bull frogs go on to destroy and displace native species that are ill-equipped to defend themselves against the foreign invaders.

This year, the focus of the meeting was on fish and reptile leathers used for luxury goods. But several other species were being reviewed for the impacts of trade, including:

• Scaphiophryne gottlebei, an endangered native frog from Madagascar;
• Cryptophyllates azureiventris, an endangered frog from Peru;
• Mantella species, some endangered and some critically endangered frogs, native to Madagascar and over-exploited for the international pet trade;
• Dendrobates pumilio from Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Panama.

These species are in decline and threatened by international trade, but no course of action has yet been decided on how to best protect them.

Perhaps the biggest news of the week, however, was a decision to expedite the review of African lion populations. Kenya volunteered to lead that effort, which is very promising since the Kenyan government has so far done the most to protect their dwindling populations of lions. Many other African nations are still struggling to combat poaching, poisoning and unsustainable hunting of lions within their borders. Scientists estimate there are fewer than 40,000 African lions remaining, maybe as few as 23,000, so taking swift action is absolutely necessary to saving the species from extinction.

You can read daily meeting reports from Geneva here, including this summary report.

Click here to read more about Defenders’ efforts to protect African lions.

Read more about lions on Defenders blog.

Earlier this month the St. Petersburg Times reported that the most commonly used fungicide in the U.S. is highly lethal to frogs, and perhaps other wildlife. Chlorothalonil is in the same family of organochlorines as DDT, which was eventually banned in the U.S. because of its impacts on humans and wildlife.

Frogs may be at serious risk from pesticide poisoning.

According to a new peer reviewed study conducted by University of South Florida researchers the amount of chlorothalonil being dumped onto farms and golf courses across the state was enough to poison almost 90 percent of the frogs they tested. A double dose killed them all.

Chlorothalonil is made by Syngenta, a Swiss pesticide manufacturer that also makes atrazine, the most commonly used herbicide in the U.S. and a well-known frog-killing chemical. Defenders has joined forces with other environmental groups to make sure that atrazine and other dangerous pesticides do not threaten imperiled salmon populations.

Atrazine has been associated with severe health problems for humans, including birth defects and other reproductive problems for both men and women. Amphibian studies have shown that atrazine can stimulate estrogen production and cause male frogs to exhibit female characteristics that adversely affect reproductive health. These studies are important because frogs have similar vital systems to humans. Yet EPA maintains that no additional testing is needed.

Save the Frogs Day is just around the corner on April 29, so come celebrate in DC. A group of frog advocates will be gathering at the steps of the Environmental Protection Agency to raise awareness and push for a ban on atrazine.

Learn more about Defenders efforts to protect amphibians.