SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana Executive Director Gilbert Adum was recently awarded £10,000 ($14,700) from UK-based Rufford Foundation to boost his team’s efforts to save frogs threatened by mining in western Ghana’s Sui forest.
Artisanal illegal miners left pits uncovered when they were forced out of the Sui forest. Gilbert and his team identified these pits as death-traps to several frogs including the Giant Squeaker Frog, one of the world’s rarest animals. With the grant funding, Gilbert and his team will close up the pits and replant areas with native trees. “Elsewhere, uncovered mine pits have caused the lives of many people,” says Sandra Owusu-Gyamfi, Ghana’s first female amphibian biologist and Associate Executive Director of SAVE THE FROGS! Ghana. “Therefore, covering up the pits and revegetating the areas will not only help to save frogs and other wildlife but also human lives.”
Gilbert warns the Ghanaian public to be wary of the dangers these mine pits can pose. He has also called on government, corporate societies, funding agencies and other conservation groups to join hands in doing more to save frogs and wildlife threatened by illegal mining activities in Ghanaian forests.
