The Problem With Frog Legs
The Problem With Frog Legs
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Uncle Julio's Rio Grande restaurants
Join a Protest at Uncle Julio's restaurants
Protest stories and photos - July 2 & 3, 2010
Protest stories and photos - September 4th, 2010
"I found Egyptian, Armenian, Indonesian, Vietnamese and of course Chinese companies offering wholesale imports."
--Alma Legacy-Levens
Introduction
The worldwide trade in frog legs is massive, and is undoubtedly a significant contributor to the decline and extinction of amphibian populations worldwide. For example, Europeans alone consumed roughly 120 million frogs per year in the 1990's.
The frog legs trade is problematic whether the frogs are wild-caught or farm-raised. Specifically, the harvest of wild frogs leads to depletion of wild populations, and trade in farm-raised frogs leads to the spread of harmful infectious diseases and invasive species.
The depletion of wild populations
The trade in wild-caught frogs has been driving frog populations to near extinction since the 19th century, when the Californian gold miners decimated populations of California Red-Legged Frogs (Rana draytonii) in the 1800's. The harvesting of amphibians for the food trade is often unregulated, and in many developing countries (like Indonesia and Thailand) is
likely a primary contributor to amphibian declines. India actually banned the export of frog legs in the 1980's because mosquito populations were increasing as the frog populations declined. The French ate so many of their native frogs that the government had to ban the eating of native frogs, and now France relies on imports from Indonesia and other distant countries. The Goliath Frog (Conraua goliath), the world's largest frog, is being hunted to near extinction in western Africa.
Recommended Reading:
Eating Frogs to Extinction by Warkentin et al. (2009).
Challenges in Evaluating
the Impact of the Trade in
Amphibians and Reptiles
on Wild Populations by Schlaepfer et al. (2005).
Fijian Frog Species Eaten To Extinction - Fiji Times
Frog legs and the spread of infectious diseases
Even in the most developed countries, there are virtually no protocols in place to ensure that diseased amphibians do not get imported or exported. American Bullfrogs (Rana catesbeiana) are commonly farmed and transported worldwide. They are known carriers of the amphibian chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) and thus are likely to be primary contributors to the global spread of chytridiomycosis, a disease that has decimated amphibian populations worldwide. In a recent study, 62% of the captive-raised bullfrogs sampled in shops in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco were infected with the chytrid fungus. These three cities alone have been importing over five million amphibians per year.
Recommended Reading:
Bullfrogs in US Markets (Schloegel et al. 2009)
Frog Legs Trade and Pathogens (Gratwicke et al. 2009)
Chytridiomycosis and Lessons Learned (Kriger & Hero 2009)
Infected bullfrogs in Uruguay (Mazzoni et al. 2003)
Frog legs and the spread of invasive species
American Bullfrogs are the frog species most commonly farmed worldwide. They are also quite adept at establishing populations in areas to which they have been introduced, and they have become invasive species in at least 15 countries worldwide. Bullfrogs compete with and eat native amphibians. Actually, bullfrogs eat all types of native wildlife: frogs, bats, snakes and more. If you eat frog legs in an American or European restaurant, there is a high chance it is this fungus-prone invasive species, which is native to the eastern United States.
SAVE THE FROGS! Frog Legs Campaign In The News
The more people know about the problems associated with the frog legs trade, the less demand there will be for frog legs. SAVE THE FROGS! does our best to make sure our campaign makes major news outlets. Below are some of the articles highlighting our campaign.
ABC NEWS covers our Frog Legs Protests
Conor Finnegan of ABC News interviewed SAVE THE FROGS! Founder Dr. Kerry Kriger about the increase in American's consumption of frog legs. Read the article here, and a transcript of the interview here.
Chicago Tribune Covers Frog Legs Victory
Bill Daley of the Chicago Tribune wrote this story about Restaurant Gary Danko removing frog legs from their menu.
Save The Frogs on cover of France's Le Monde
Catherine Vincent wrote this article that appeared on the cover page of France's largest paper. The article highlights our work, and the problems with the frog legs trade, of which France is the largest participant.
SAVE THE FROGS! on John Tesh's website
John Tesh helped get the word out about our campaign to end the ecologically damaging frog legs trade. Here's the article:
The Popular Dish, Frog Legs, Is Pushing Frogs to The Brink of Extinction
Black & White Interviews Dr. Kerry Kriger
Richard Scordato interviewed SAVE THE FROGS! Founder Dr. Kerry Kriger about the Uncle Julio's protests. You can read a transcript of the interview here.
Radio Interview on Crop To Cuisine
Dov Hirsch of Crop To Cuisine interviewed
SAVE THE FROGS! Founder Dr. Kerry Kriger about the rise of the frog legs trade in America. You can listen to it here (or download the mp3 by right clicking).
Q & A
Is this an important issue?
Yes. History shows that humans eat many species of wildlife to extinction. America consumes 20% of the world's frog legs. We believe that we can significantly reduce the number of restaurants serving frog legs, and thus our frog legs campaign has achievable goals.
"Leg by leg the ecosystem will crumble on top of us if we fail to act".
But people have to eat something, right?
Yes. And the six billion humans on the planet need to be intelligent about what they eat. In America, there are many alternatives to frog legs. The reality is that frog legs in America are generally eaten as a joke by people who are completely unaware of the ecological damage being wrought by their impulsive and whimsical menu decision.
Who eats frog legs?
Frogs are eaten in many countries, by people of extremely different cultural backgrounds:
The photo below (courtesy of Alejandro Rosselli) is from a street market in Jakarta, Indonesia. The Indonesians are responsible for 45% of the world's frog legs exports, and the domestic frog legs trade is thought to be at least as large. Most of Indonesia's frogs are wild-caught.
Here's a video of the Amphibian Avenger Lucy Cooke investigating frog frappes in downtown Lima, Peru:
Our very own President Barack Obama munching into a frog's leg while on the campaign trail, likely oblivious to the ecological damage being done:
Obama photo by S. Loeb AFP/Getty Images.
In India, the Indian Bullfrog (Hoplobatrachus tigerinus) is known as the Jumping Chicken, and is systematically hunted during the monsoon season. Learn more here.
The citizens of Fellsmere, FL have a frog-eating festival each year intended to fulfill the "recreational needs of the children in Fellsmere". If you would like to help SAVE THE FROGS! fulfill the educational needs of the adults of Fellsmere, please contact us. We need people on the ground at their January 2011 festival to distribute literature and educate the festival attendees and promoters. The festival is responsible for the death of 80,000 frogs each year.
What about France? Frog legs are a part of their culture!
France nearly ate their native frogs to extinction, which is why they are no longer allowed to eat native frogs. Cultures must be changed once they are no longer beneficial; thus, Fijians and Papua New Guineans do not often complain that they are no longer allowed to cannibalize their fellow humans. Similarly, Japanese, Norwegians and Icelanders claim they should be allowed to hunt whales because it is "part of their culture". Eating an animal to extinction, however, is inexcusable and should not be allowed. In summary: France is on our list.
Read this London Times article about the frog legs black market in France.
Who have you gotten to stop selling frog legs thus far?
Because of the hard work of SAVE THE FROGS! volunteers, Wegman's supermarket chain has discontinued sales of frog legs at their 60 locations. This makes Wegman's the first supermarket in the world to remove frog legs from their shelves for environmental reasons. Earlier this year, San Francisco's Restaurant Gary Danko became the first restaurant in the world to remove frog legs from their menus. They removed the wild-caught Pig Frogs from their menus after SAVE THE FROGS! asked them to do so.
Protests? Really? Are protests necessary?
Absolutely. But Save The Frogs would never lead a protest against a restaurant without first contacting its CEO and informing him/her of the problems associated with frog legs, and offering them positive publicity should they remove frog legs from the restaurant's menus. Save The Frogs would also first contact the restaurant's manager to inform them of the issue and seek their assistance. Save The Frogs' strategy is to first target upscale restaurants and large chain corporations that are unlikely to incur serious negative consequences should their customers no longer be able to eat frog legs.
Following our contacting a company's CEO and the restaurant manager, should such a company fail to take action to remedy the ecological problems it is causing, Save The Frogs feels that peaceful protests are warranted, as they:
(1) Educate the restaurant's patrons, employees and passersby about frog extinctions and the problems associated with frog legs;
(2) Raise awareness of amphibian conservation efforts;
(3) Motivate people to take action and inspire others to do so; and
(4) Lead to the target restaurant eventually and inevitable ceasing frog legs' sales due to the negative publicity and loss of profits it incurs due to the protests.
In the case of Uncle Julio's, whose corporate executives consistently refuse to acknowledge our concerns, we feel that protests are not only warranted, they are necessary.
Learn all about Uncle Julio's Rio Grande restaurants
Sign the petition to get Uncle Julio's to stop selling frog legs
Take part in a protest at Uncle Julio's restaurants
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Frog Legs