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SAVE THE FROGS! has been working with governmental and nonprofit partners since 2010 to reduce the number of invasive species entering the USA. One of the species we have worked hardest on is the American Bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana or Lithobates catesbeianus). While we love bullfrogs in their native habitat, their invasion of the American West has caused an array of negative impacts on native (and frequently threatened and endangered) amphibians.
California politicians have been permitting the importations of over two million bullfrogs annually, which causes unnecessary harm to California’s native amphibians, as the bullfrogs prey on native frogs, compete with them for food and breeding habitats, and spread infectious diseases. SAVE THE FROGS! helped create new bullfrog policies in the City and County of Santa Cruz, California in 2012, and we have been urging the State of California to ban importation and sales of bullfrogs for the past seven years.
Thankfully, our frog-loving friends and attorneys at the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) have recently stepped up and taken on this issue as well. CBD and STF! co-authored and submitted a petition in 2016 calling on the California Fish and Game Commission (FGC) to list American Bullfrogs as a prohibited species in the state. Our petition is being considered at the FGC’s April 26, 2017 meeting in Van Nuys, CA (which takes place at the Airtel Plaza Hotel, 7277 Valjean Avenue).
This is our best chance yet to make a serious difference for native amphibians in California so we are calling on all frog enthusiasts to attend the April 26th, 2017 meeting in Van Nuys.
By attending, you will be able to let the FGC politicians know that you want American Bullfrog importation and sales to be ended in California now! All attendees will have the chance to speak to the Commission (expect to have 2 minutes total). SAVE THE FROGS! Wetland Coordinator Kathlyn Franco will be at the meeting to speak on behalf of SAVE THE FROGS!.
Attend the April 26th, 2017 Fish & Game Commission meeting in Van Nuys, CA:
RSVP by emailing Kathlyn Franco (kathlyn@savethefrogs.com). She will tell you where to meet, what time you should arrive, and answer any of your questions, including helping you craft your speech to the Commissioners on behalf of the amphibians.
Bullfrog photo courtesy Jock Branson.