Empowering Indian & Bangladeshi Citizens To Protect Amphibian Populations:
SAVE THE FROGS! Founder Dr. Kerry Kriger Visits India & Bangladesh
From December 2017 through February 2018, I will visit SAVE THE FROGS! volunteers in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Delhi, Dhaka, Chittagong & Sylhet to give presentations and assist them in increasing the effectiveness of their efforts on behalf of amphibians and the environment.
Please donate to support my efforts in India & Bangladesh!
SAVE THE FROGS! Grant Recipients at the Rahara Nibedita Art Center, Calcutta
Amphibians have been rapidly declining in numbers in recent decades due to pollution, loss of habitat, climate change, invasive species, road mortality, over-harvesting for the pet and food trades, and the infectious disease chytridiomycosis, which is spread by human activity. Frogs feed on mosquitos and thus help protect people from malaria and other vector-borne diseases. Frogs are bio-indicators that serve as an early warning system of environmental degradation. Amphibians are an integral part of the food web, and in protecting amphibians, we simultaneously protect many other wildlife species.
Save The Frogs Day in Lucknow, India
SAVE THE FROGS! has had an active volunteer base in India since 2009, when the country’s first Save The Frogs Day event was celebrated in Guwahati, Assam. SAVE THE FROGS! now has volunteers throughout India, affording us a unique opportunity to organize our efforts and empower these groups to increase their efforts on behalf of amphibians. I have had a long interest in Indian culture, having studied, performed and taught classical music of northern India (bansuri) since 1996. I visited Uttar Pradesh in 1997 and recently returned to India for the first time in two decades, to both further my musical efforts and to promote amphibian conservation throughout the country. I will speak at schools, universities and conservation centers to encourage youth, teachers and scientists to incorporate amphibians into their curricula and make amphibian conservation a primary focus of their careers.
Drumming For The Frogs in Manipur, India Manipur
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
- Hyderabad, Telangana, India:
- December 26th presentation at the Laboratory for the Conservation of Endangered Species
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
- December 29th presentation at the Madras Snake Park and inauguration of the Herpetology Research Centre
- Visit to the Madras Croc Bank
- Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
- January 3rd to 6th Frogging Expedition and presentations organized by Dr. KV Gururaja
- Dr. KV Gururaja is Chief Scientist at Gubbi Labs, India Institute of Science and has created Android apps and books on identifying the amphibians of the Western Ghats, one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots. Since 2010 Dr. Gururaja has been organizing Save The Frogs Day events in Bangalore. Dr. Kriger and Dr. Gururaja will organize presentations at schools in the Western Ghats region and visit frog habitats to acquire high quality photographs that can be used for educational and promotional materials.
- Ajmer, Jodhpur and Udaipur, Rajasthan, India
- January 15th presentations: Zoology Dept Rajasthan University; Kanojia Girls PG College; Kendriya Vidhyalay School
- January 16th & 17th Presentations in Ajmer at the Regional Institute of Education and Kayad village schools.
- January 18th & 19th Presentations in Jodhpur at Mahila PG College, Arid Forest Research Institute and Jai Narain Vyas University.
- January 20th Presentation at Beawar PG College
- Organized by Professor KK Sharma and the volunteers of Save Environment and Welfare of Animals (SEWA) society, who have been working with full enthusiasm and dedication to stop the decline of frog populations in the western parts of India. Since 2011 they have held over 100 Save The Frogs Day events throughout Rajasthan. The world’s smallest frog (Microhila ornate) was reported from the amphibian rich area of this habitat of Western India.
“Kerry: Me and my Save The Frogs lovers in India have great hopes about your visit to India.”
— Dr. Krishan Sharma, Amphibian Biologist, MDS University, Ajmer, India
- New Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, India
- January 24th Presentation to middle school children at WWF-India’s Frogfest
- Dhaka, Bangladesh
- January 30th presentation at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University in Gazipur (tentative)
- Chittagong, Bangladesh
- Feb 1st week seminar at Chittagong Veterinary & Animal Sciences University (tentative)
- Rangamati, Bangladesh
- Feb 5th presentation Green Explore Society (tentative)
- Sylhet, Bangladesh
- February 12th presentation; Pradhikar (Sylhet Agriculture University) (tentative)
Save The Frogs Day in Rajasthan, India
Please contact Dr. Kerry Kriger with questions or sponsorship enquiries.