The UK charity Froglife has awarded SAVE THE FROGS! Founder Dr. Kerry Kriger the 2012 Newt Year Honour for The High Profile Person Representing Amphibians and Reptiles, saying: “Dr Kriger has initiated a global Save The Frogs Day, inspiring people all over the world to celebrate, learn more about and raise funds to protect frogs and their habitats into the future.” Previous honours have gone to Sir David Attenborough, Stephen Fry, Monty Python’s Terry Jones, and the creators of Bagpuss for the magical Gabriel the Toad.

SAVE THE FROGS! hopes to extend its amphibian conservation movement to Bangladesh. Bangladesh is a small country with rich biodiversity in South East Asia. The amphibian populations are declining rapidly and it is assumed that many unknown species may go extinct before they are identified. The major threats to amphibians are the use of pesticides, climate change, habitat destruction, frog dissections, deforestation, and the illegal export of frog legs. Dr. Kerry Kriger, Founder of SAVE THE FROGS!, has offered to help Nurul Islam and Dr. Shahneaz Ali Khan create a SAVE THE FROGS! Bangladesh.

The five members of SAVE THE FROGS! Bangladesh have already had their first meeting in Chittagong, Bangladesh. On December 14, 2011 they visited a school in a remote village near Sitakundu Eco Park. The students aged from 12-17 and were taught about amphibian conservation and the importance of frogs. They distributed some outreach material among the students illustrating the role of frogs to the ecosystem and their threats.

SAVE THE FROGS! Bangladesh in action conducting an amphibian conservation education program in Bangladesh.

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The City of Santa Cruz voted unanimously today (January 24, 2012) to ban the sale, release, importation and possession of American Bullfrogs. This makes Santa Cruz the first city in the country to take such a step, and sets an important precedent for other jurisdictions to follow. The non-native frogs spread chytrid fungus and prey on native wildlife. California currently imports several million of the bullfrogs into the state each year. This is the first piece of legislation SAVE THE FROGS! has gotten passed. On February 28, 2012 the County of Santa Cruz will vote on similar legislation. We are currently petitioning the Governor Jerry Brown to make statewide bullfrog legislation.

Read these two news stories for more info on the bullfrog ban
– Public News Service article
– KION article

BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE TECHNICIANS (AQUATIC WILDLIFE):

The National Park Service is seeking up to six aquatic technicians for the 2012 summer field season in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks (SEKI).

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A MSc position is available at the University of Alberta, Edmonton
Alberta, Canada, with Dr. Cindy Paszkowski (University of Alberta,
Biological Sciences) and Dr. Garry Scrimgeour (Parks Canada) to work
on Long-toed Salamanders (Ambystoma macrodactylum) in spectacular
Waterton Lakes National Park in the Rocky Mountains of southeastern
Alberta.   (more…)