An update from SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana student chapter at the University for Development Studies:
“Today we visited the frog market at Kumbugu in the Northern Region of Ghana. We met the frog hunters who took us through what they do. They are basically farmers but hunt for frogs during the lean season of farming when they do not have much work on their farms. We were taken through the processing of the frogs before selling, the frogs are either smoked or fried and sent to the market for sale. the frogs are harvested from ponds and dams around the village.
We were also taken to the harvesting site where we saw how they catch the frogs. Before harvesting starts a ritual is performed it is believed that will help in a successful hunting. The water is disturbed and the frogs run hiding under grasses at the bank where they are trapped and captured. Harvesting is done during the early mornings and by afternoon the frogs are ready for the market. A single hunter can catch up to about 50 frogs on a good day, and so if there are many hunters you can imagine how many frogs would be captured in a day.
We gave the hunters some education and sensitization on the importance and the need for us to conserve the frogs that are in our locality. SAVE THE FROGS! UDS CHAPTER with support from SAVE THE FROGS! GHANA would look at giving an alternative livelihood and protein sources to these people so that the frogs would be saved.”