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12 THE RURAL VOICE
Robert Mercer
Frogs - dying and grotesquely deformed
Frogs are dying out, species
becoming endangered and
researchers finding populations
loaded with grotesquely deformed
juvenile members. What's going on?
According to
a study
published in
Nature,
amphibian
populations on a
global basis are
declining,
especially in
North America.
In Canada, the
Northern
Leopard frog is
now a protected
species with the
Oregon Spotted
Frog awaiting
classification. Frogs are sending out a
biological message for help. They are
hopping away from abundance and
slithering into the void.
In part, this story is very topical as
the federal government has just
released its endangered species
legislation and the media have
grabbed headline predictions for
gloom and doom for frogs and their
friends.
To add to the fire of uncertainty
over our distant vertebrate cousins, a
well-documented and horrifyingly
true story by William Souder has
been published called "A Plague of
Frogs". It is horrifying not only
because of the frogs with multiple
legs and other deformities, but
because of the lack of science and
scientific co-operation, to answer the
questions of why and how.
This is a story based in the States,
but the situation also occurs in
Canada, of deformed frogs and the
search to find the answers to the
cause of the deformities.
Spring is frog -time in rural
Canada, but spring is not conducive
to finding time on the farm to read a
report about the misfortunes of a
species that has little immediate
impact on farm profit -and -loss
statements. Why not give the book to
your grade 12 children and ask them
to read and review it — but some of
the pictures may put you off your
next meal.
Frogs are an early warning system
for the whole vertebrate kingdom of
which we as humans are a part. Are
problems in frogs a sentinel for the
state of the environment that could
also impact humans?
Frogs "feel" the environment far
more acutely than we do. They live in
water and on land. They breathe
through their skin, they lay their eggs
in the open and in the sunlight. They
are constantly surrounded by their
environment which impacts their
quality of life all the time.
"A Plague of Frogs" is a good
read. It waves an environmental red
flag in a far better presented scientific
and numeric way than did Rachel
Carson's book "Silent Spring". The
reading is tough going at times, and
becomes a biology text book on
Herpetology (study of amphibians) at
other times. But that knowledge is
essential to the understanding of the
problem and the scientific dialogue.
Whatever you may have seen in
the popular media about this research
or this book, the problem has not
been solved. Fingers are pointed, but
data to isolate any one cause is both .
missing and not expected in this
complex and multi -disciplined
investigation.
This problem is much like a
detective story with good guys and
bad. Sometimes it's the scientists
who are the bad guys, other times it
looks like chemicals, a hormone
mimicker, UV rays, climate change,
parasites or just the natural cycle of
things in nature.
Next time you pass a pond or walk
by the stream, stop and look at the
frogs and see if they are sending you
a message about conditions on your
Iand.O
Robert Mercer was editor of the
Broadwater Market Letter and a farm
commentator in Ontario for 25 years.