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Current Actions | Completed Actions
"It is not enough to be compassionate. You must act."
--The Dalai Lama
Introduction
There is power in numbers. In this section of the website, we seek your direct assistance in helping us SAVE THE FROGS! Please take action by signing the petitions we add to this page, and by sending letters to politicians, businesses and other groups or individuals who have the power to protect amphibians. Every couple weeks we'll add a new petition or action to this page, so please sign up for our free newsletter to keep posted!
Current Actions
Help save the Sharp Park Wetlands!
On December 19th, 2012, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee gave endangered California Red-Legged Frogs the death sentence when he vetoed legislation intended to protect the Sharp Park Wetlands.
Please sign this petition asking the Mayor to rescind his veto!
The City of San Francisco is currently pumping the wetlands out to sea to create dry land for a taxpayer-funded golf course that loses over $100,000 per year. Mayor Lee, an avid golfer, received over 4,000 letters from SAVE THE FROGS! supporters asking him not to veto, and he refused to meet with any environmental groups to discuss the issue.
The Sharp Park Wetlands are home to the endangered California Red-Legged Frog and San Francisco garter snake, as well as numerous bird species. Over 95% of California's coastal wetlands have been destroyed or damaged and nearly 2,000 amphibian species worldwide are on the verge of extinction. The federally endangered California Red-Legged Frogs that live at Sharp Park are killed when their egg masses get stranded on land during the City's pumping operations and when tadpoles get sucked through the pumps and out to sea. The Red-Legged Frogs were nearly eaten to extinction in the 1890's by the California gold miners. Now they are threatened by habitat destruction, roadkill and non-native species such as American Bullfrogs, which are voracious predators that are being imported into California by the millions each year to satisfy San Francisco's burgeoning frog meat trade.
Save Lake Erie's Fowler Toads
Developers in the town of Fort Erie, Ontario want to build a 12-story condominium and shopping complex on Fowler's Toad habitat at Crystal Beach on the shores of Lake Erie. The toads are protected under Ontario's Endangered Species Act, and the construction of the unnecessary building would undoubtedly cause irreparable harm to the toad population.
Learn more and take action for the toads here!
Sign The Petition To Get Atrazine Banned!
Please sign our petition to get the harmful herbicide Atrazine banned! Atrazine is one of the world's most common pesticides: over 80 million pounds of it were used on American crops last year, and it has been in use for 50 years. This harmful pesticide turns male frogs into females at concentrations as low as 2.5 parts per billion. Atrazine causes cancer in laboratory mammals and developmental problems in fish. Atrazine is the most commonly detected pesticide in rainwater, groundwater and tapwater in the USA. Atrazine spray gets lifted into the clouds, travels hundreds of miles and then falls down from the sky in rainwater: half a million pounds of it each year.
Frogs and humans share half our DNA, so Atrazine can't be good for humans either. That's likely why the European Union banned the harmful pesticide in 2004. But the company that produces it, Syngenta (based in Switzerland!) has $11 billion in revenues, and has a huge lobby to keep Atrazine on the market in the USA.
Our goal is to get Atrazine banned by the 3rd Annual Save The Frogs Day (April 29th, 2011)!
Please sign the petition right now! We'll be sending it to Lisa Jackson, Administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency.
Frog Legs Protests at Uncle Julio's Restaurants
Uncle Julio's Rio Grande is a chain of 16 upscale Mexican food restaurants located throughout TX, VA, MD, FL, IL and GA. Uncle Julio's Rio Grande restaurants sell farm-raised bullfrogs from China. These bullfrogs are regularly infected with the deadly chytrid fungus, and are harmful invasive species that eat native frogs. Thus Uncle Julio's Rio Grande restaurants are engaging in ecologically destructive trade practices.
As Uncle Julio's corporate headquarters has refused to reply to our emails, voice mails or our three Federal Express letters to them, Save The Frogs held peaceful (but highly visible!) protests in front of their restaurants on Save The Frogs Day (April 30th, 2010). One Uncle Julio's restaurant hired 8 private security guards to keep tabs on our peaceful protesters...costing the corporation money. These were the first protests in defense of frog populations in the planet's history.
We will return to their restaurants indefinitely until they remove frog legs from their menus.
Learn about the problems associated with frog legs.
Learn about Uncle Julio's horrible environmental track record.
Send Uncle Julio's CEO this letter.
Take part in the protests, or help us promote them!
Cameron Diaz
Cameron Diaz has been quoted as saying “I'd
kiss a frog even if there was no promise of a Prince Charming popping
out of it. I love frogs”. However, Cameron has yet to take any action to protect the frogs she claims to love. If you agree with us that Cameron Diaz would look pretty good in a 100% organic cotton SAVE THE FROGS! t-shirt, please sign this petition asking for Cameron Diaz's assistance in raising awareness of amphibian extinctions. Once we get Cameron on board -- speaking up for the frogs by recording public service announcements and appearing as a guest of honor at SAVE THE FROGS! lectures and fundraisers -- other celebrities will follow suit, so take action now!
Batrachology
Batrachology is the study of amphibians. Most people use the term "herpetology", but this term in its current usage signifies the study of amphibians and/or reptiles, two groups wth extremely different evolutionary and life histories. Find out why this is a problem for amphibian conservation efforts, and learn what we're doing about it on the official SAVE THE FROGS! batrachology webpage.
Report Your Action Taken
If you completed any action other than signing a petition or sending one of our automated letters, please fill out this super-quick form. This helps us track what has been done. Thanks!
Completed Actions
Help the Mountain Yellow-Legged Frogs get legal protections
VICTORY! The California Fish & Game Commission voted unanimously today to grant endangered status to the Mountain Yellow-Legged Frogs, which have disappeared from over 90% of their historic range. Thanks to the 1,573 SAVE THE FROGS! supporters who sent in letters on behalf of the frogs. www.savethefrogs.com
At one time a common sight throughout the Sierra Nevadas, California's Mountain Yellow-Legged Frog are now completely gone from over 90% of the sites they once inhabited!
Background: The California Fish & Game Commission is considering a petition by the Center for Biological Diversity to list the Mountain Yellow-Legged Frog (Rana sierrae and R. muscosa) as threatened/endangered under California's Endangered Species Act. They vote on February 2, 2012 and we need to make sure they know that wildlife enthusiasts from California and beyond support this listing.
New Zealand's Endangered Frogs & Mining
Thanks to the 1,275 SAVE THE FROGS! supporters letters that sent in letters to New Zealand's Minister of Economic Development urging him to protect New Zealand's critically endangered frogs! New Zealand decided on 22-July to protect the frogs!
Two of the world's most unique and endangered frogs were under imminent threat of extinction, as the New Zealand government had plans to remove legal protections from the strongholds of the frogs' last remaining populations. If the government's plans had gone through, the land would have been opened to mining, and the critically endangered Archey's Frog (Leiopelma archeyi) would have almost certainly gone extinct. Watch this video of Dr. Phil Bishop's SAVE THE FROGS! Webinar entitled "Saving New Zealand's Threatened Frogs."
Learn more about our campaign in this article that appeared in New Zealand's National Business Review, and watch a video of Dr. Bishop looking for frogs in the field here.
We Saved California's Native Amphibians!
On April 8th, 2010, the CA Department of Fish & Game made the wise decision to ban the importation of non-native frogs and turtles for food. Unfortunately, a vocal minority of restaurant and supermarket owners successfully lobbied the Fish & Game Commission to hold a "re-consideration" of that ruling.
On May 19th, SAVE THE FROGS! Founder Dr. Kerry Kriger testified at the Commission's May 19th "reconsideration" hearing, highlighting the spread of infectious disease and invasive species that inevitably accompany the frog legs trade. Not only did the Commission vote 3-2 to maintain the ban, they also voted to research methods of enforcing the ban and ensuring invasive species do not slip into the state via potential loopholes.
Thanks to the 1,196 SAVE THE FROGS! supporters letters that sent in letters to the Department of Fish & Game over the past 4 days! We comprised over half of the 2,043 comments received by the Department!
You can listen to Dr. Kriger's testimony by clicking the play button below, or download an audio recording here (right click-->then "save target as").
Learn more and read Dr. Kriger's letter to the Department of Fish & Game here.
We Saved the California Tiger Salamanders!
Big thanks to the 452 Save The Frogs Supporters who sent letters to the California Fish & Game Commission urging them to protect the California Tiger Salamander (Ambystoma californiense). The Commission voted 3-2 on March 3rd, 2010 to protect the Tiger Salamanders under the state Endangered Species Act. This represents a major step forward in the conservation of the species.
Saving the Sierra Nevada Yellow-Legged Frogs
The Sierra Nevada Yellow-Legged Frog was once the most abundant frog in California, but has disappeared from over 90% of the lakes it once inhabited, in large part due to the introduction of non-native trout, which are voracious predators of tadpoles.
Thanks to the 707 Save The Frogs Supporters who sent letters into the The National Park Service. Our comments comprised over 95% of the total comments received by the Park Service! The NPS is currently developing an action plan for removing the non-native trout from Sequoia Kings Canyon National Park. We will keep you posted when the removals begin!
"In order to save the frogs leaping by fresh water ponds
We can't just wave our magic wands;
We must take action
To see a reaction.
Even though these words are succinct,
Frogs need our help to keep from becoming extinct."
--Kelly Stephens, 12th grade,
Mountain View High School, CA
(From the 1st Annual Frog Poetry Contest)
Website design, photos & content by Kerry Kriger unless otherwise noted.
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