SAVE THE FROGS! supporters from George Mason University are leading a protest in defense of frog populations this Saturday, September 4th, 5pm, at the Rio Grande Café in Arlington, VA. We are depending on you to join this valiant group of frog savers in protesting Rio Grande’s sales of frogs’ legs. The future of amphibious life on planet Earth is at stake, so stand up and make your voice heard this Saturday: the frogs are depending on you!

Uncle Julio’s Rio Grande restaurants have never responded to over 1,000 letters that SAVE THE FROGS! supporters have sent them regarding their sales of frog legs. The frog legs trade is responsible for the spread of infectious diseases and harmful invasive species, and the depletion of wild frog populations. One-third of the world’s amphibian species are already on the verge of extinction and thus a wealthy corporation like Uncle Julio’s Rio Grande restaurants has no business contributing to the further extinction of frog species.

With your help this Saturday we can educate the restaurants’ patrons about frog extinctions AND make the restaurant re-assess its deplorable environmental practices. With your help, I have no doubt we can get all 16 Uncle Julio’s Rio Grande restaurants to stop selling frog legs, just like San Francisco’s Restaurant Gary Danko did in April after we made our voices heard to them. But only with your help!

PLEASE TAKE A STAND THIS SATURDAY: IT’S UP TO YOU TO SAVE THE FROGS!

WHERE:
Uncle Julio’s Rio Grande Cafe,
4301 N. Fairfax Drive
Arlington, VA 22203

WHEN:
Saturday, September 4th
5pm-8pm

WHY:
Uncle Julio’s Rio Grande restaurants sell American Bullfrogs farm-raised in China. These frogs regularly escape their rearing facilities and spread infectious diseases to native frog populations. A recent study showed that up to 62% of the American Bullfrogs entering the USA for food are infected with the chytrid fungus, responsible for the extinction of up to 100 amphibian species worldwide. The bullfrogs are also voracious predators of native frogs and other native wildlife. Learn all about the frog legs trade here.

I can’t think of many ways worse ways for a frog to die than to get munched alive by a huge American Bullfrog, and I can’t think of many more excruciatingly slow ways for a frog to die than to have millions of chytrid fungi eating away at their skin until they finally go into cardiac arrest, their species being driven to complete extinction. You’re not going to let that be the fate of the world’s remaining frog populations are you?

Uncle Julio’s arrogantly ignores that their trade practices are contributing to the worldwide extinction of amphibian species. I’m a firm believer that citizens like me and you need to stand up to corporations that willingly destroy the environment without a care. That’s what the Rio Grande Café is doing, and you can help put an end to it, this Saturday at 5pm.

WHAT ARE THE PROTESTS LIKE?
They are fun, peaceful, fulfilling and enlightening. They will be even better with you there!
http://www.savethefrogs.com/frogblog/save-the-frogs/frog-legs-protests-a-huge-success/

WHAT IS THE GOAL?
The goal is to raise awareness of the problems related to the frog legs trade, and to persuade potential customers to boycott the restaurant, so that the Uncle Julio’s Corporation (which cares about money, not the environment) feels compelled to remove frog legs from their menu.

WHAT TO BRING:
A positive attitude! Assuming you have RSVP’d, we can provide you a sign. Or you can make one for yourself (e.g. “Rio Grande: Stop Driving Frogs To Extinction!” or “SAVE THE FROGS! Boycott Rio Grande”).

CAN I BRING MY KIDS?
Sure. The protests are peaceful and fun. Plus, kids can SAVE THE FROGS at least as well as adults.

I CAN’T ATTEND…WHAT CAN I DO?
(1) Email this message to anyone you know who cares about protecting wildlife.

(2) If you in the DC area, you can post one of these flyers at your office:

http://www.savethefrogs.com/actions/frog-legs/images/Flyer-Rio-Grande.pdf

(3) Everybody should call the restaurant at 703.528.3131 and tell them you do not plan to eat at their establishment until they remove frog legs from their menu (though you would be happy to if they removed the frog legs from the menu). Then email, call or write their CEO TODD Conger and tell him the same thing:
Todd Conger, CEO
Uncle Julio’s Corporation
1101 N. Union Bower, Suite 160
Irving, Texas 75061
Email: todd.conger@unclejulios.com
Phone: 972-554-6886

PLEASE RSVP IF YOU PLAN TO ATTEND THE PROTEST!

QUESTIONS:
Email speakup@savethefrogs.com

THANKS AND SAVE THE FROGS!
Kerry Kriger, Ph.D.
SAVE THE FROGS! Founder, Executive Director & Ecologist

Sign up to receive the SAVE THE FROGS! newsletter at http://savethefrogs.com/newsletters

This weekend, myself and other SAVE THE FROGS! supporters descended upon Uncle Julio’s Rio Grande restaurants in Arlington, VA and Bethesda, MD and educated well over a thousand people about frog extinctions and the multi-million dollar restaurant chain’s deplorable environmental policies. To date, the company has refused to acknowledge the 800+ letters we have sent them regarding their participation in the ecologically-destructive frog legs trade. The company’s environmental policy has been “ignore the problem and it will go away”, but I have no doubt that the company is quickly realizing that they are soon going to have to confront the issue…or face losing hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenues. Here’s my recap of the weekend events:

Friday, July 2 — Arlington, VA
I arrived at 5:30pm with two fellow protesters. Yes…only three of us, but who says a small group of dedicated people can’t make a huge impact? We came bearing flourescent yellow signs and were immediately greeted by the restaurant manager, the property manager and a private security guard the restaurant had hired. I introduced myself, informed them that I was a long-time customer and had received no response from their CEO regarding my concerns and thus we were here to celebrate the 4th of July weekend by exercising our right to free speech, and that if they wanted us to leave, they could simply remove the frog legs from their menus. The property manager then lied to me and told me that her company owned the sidewalk surrounding the restaurant. I let her know that the police department had assured me that it was indeed public property and therefore if she had an issue, she could call the police, which she did.

The police were not in a hurry to arrive so, we stood outside the restaurant’s busy patio area showing the patrons and passersby our signs, and distributing literature about the frog legs trade, and the company’s deplorable environmental policies:

Eventually a policewoman arrives and I explain that we are standing on public property abiding by the law, and she confirms our right to be there. The property manager then lied to the policewoman claiming that her company owned the sidewalk, but the policewoman didn’t budge. The property manager was clearly unhappy at this verdict:

After the policewoman’s partner informed me that he liked what we were doing, we spent the next three hours talking to passersby and deterring potential patrons from entering the restaurant. The restaurant manager (who walked away every time I tried to talk to her) was clearly disturbed by the night’s events, and spent most of the time on her phone:

It didn’t take long to realize that three protesters could easily make ourselves and our cause known to every restaurantgoer and every person walking down the street. Several people informed us that they were about to eat at the restaurant but would instead go elsewhere, and i have no doubt that many of the patron’s will think twice before returning to an Uncle Julio’s Rio Grande restaurant. All in all an enjoyable, productive evening!

Friday, July 3 — Bethesda, MD
This evening there were lots of people out and about: a perfect night to protest in defense of the frogs. The restaurant manager — who had already experienced a Save The Frogs Day protest at his restaurant — approached me before I even got within a block of his restaurant. Apparently, they must have received photos and a warning about me, a good compliment! The manager wasn’t alone; his large counterpart introduced himself as Montgomery County Police (though he was not in uniform!). He showed me a letter from the property manager, and a Google Map with a highlighter on it, which in his mind “proved” that the entire 4 blocks surrounding the restaurant was private property, including all the sidewalks. I told him that anybody can print a Google Map and color it in, and that until he showed me an official document, I’d be walking the street with my bright yellow sign, unless of course he agreed to remove the frog legs from his menus. “Oh by the way, where’s your uniform?” After mis-representing himself as an on-duty police officer, it became apparent that this “policeman” was really just working his night job: private security for Uncle Julio.

They called the police. The policewoman informed me she really liked frogs and what we were doing, and that indeed we were allowed to be here protesting — so long as we remain in motion. In Bethesda apparently, the 1st amendment is only in effect while you walk. No problem; myself and three other SAVE THE FROGS! supporters spent the next few hours walking the crowded sidewalks of Bethesda Row, talking to hundreds of supportive people about frogs and Rio Grande. The restaurant manager took lots of photos of us each time we walked by his establishment. It was quite clear he was having a bad night, and I’m quite certain that he was coming to the full realization that we would indeed be back indefinitely until his company removed frog legs from their menus. And indeed we will be.

Who says protesting can’t be fun?

The mathematics of protests
Uncle Julio’s Rio Grande does not care about the environment, they care only about their profits…so all we have to do is make them lose money until they are forced to remove the frog legs from their menu. If we had only three protesters out front of all 16 Uncle Julio’s restaurants 2 nights per week, 52 weeks a year, and each restaurant lost only $100 each time we were there…the company would lose $166,400 in revenues in a year!!! That’s plenty enough to make them address the issue, so we just have to keep the pressure on!

Please attend or help promote a protest by filling out this form!

The world’s first protests in defense of amphibian populations took part on the 2nd Annual Save The Frogs Day (April 30th, 2010). Richard Scordato of Black & White recently interviewed SAVE THE FROGS! Founder Dr. Kerry Kriger about the protests. The transcript of this interview follows.

1. When did you start your protest of Uncle Julio’s Rio Grande and why?
Uncle Julio’s Rio Grande restaurants sell frog legs, the trade of which is responsible for the depletion of wild frog populations, the spread of harmful infectious diseases, and the spread of invasive species. Amphibians are rapidly disappearing worldwide, and Americans consume 20% of the world’s frog legs. There is no reason for a high-end Tex-Mex restaurant to be a contributor to the global amphibian extinction crisis. I began writing Uncle Julio’s Rio Grande headquarters in December 2009. They failed to respond to any of my three Federal Express letters, multiple emails or phone calls, so SAVE THE FROGS! began organizing protests in mid-April.

2. How have you protested Rio Grande? Have you been successful?
The world’s first protests in defense of frog populations took place at four of their restaurants (Dallas, Arlington, VA, Fairfax, VA and Bethesda, MD) on the 2nd Annual Save The Frogs Day, April 30th 2010, which was the largest day of amphibian education and conservation action in the planet’s history, with 85 events in 21 countries.

The goal of the protests are two-fold: (1) educate passersby about amphibian extinctions and (2) decrease the restaurant chain’s profits until they have no choice but to remove frog legs from their menus. Unfortunately, many businesses are like Rio Grande, in that their profits are their sole motivating factor, with no regard for the environment or the communities in which they exist.

The Save The Frogs Day protests were successful at educating hundreds of passersby about the problems associated with the frog legs trade. The protests were also successful in that they cost Rio Grande money. SAVE THE FROGS! supporters diverted many potential diners from eating at the restaurants, and many of the restaurants hired private security guards for the day. At the Bethesda location, eight security guards followed our protesters around for 6 hours, even though we had made it clear to the restaurants in advance that they would be peaceful protests.

3. What are the general ramifications of Rio Grande’s serving frog leg’s?
The American Bullfrogs they sell are farm-raised in China. Such frog farms pack hundreds to thousands of frogs in close quarters, where they are known to contract and spread a deadly chytrid fungus that has driven up to 100 amphibian species to complete extinction worldwide. The bullfrogs also regularly escape their holding pens and wreak damage on native frog populations, as they are large frogs that eat anything they can fit in their mouths.

4. What are your plans for protesting Rio Grande further?
We will continue to protest at Uncle Julio’s Rio Grande restaurants indefinitely until the business either gets sold, goes bankrupt, or removes frog legs from their menus. Clearly the latter would be the optimal solution for all parties.

5. Have your protested any other business’s about their mistreatment of frogs?
Uncle Julio’s Rio Grande is the first such business, but they will likely not be the last. However, we would never protest any business without first informing them of the problems they are creating, and offering alternatives.

We seek people to participate in the protests at Uncle Julio’s restaurants in TX, MD, VA, IL, GA and FL, and also people to help promote them. If interested, please email contact@savethefrogs.com
Thanks!

The worldwide trade in frog legs is undoubtedly a significant contributor to the decline and extinction of amphibian populations worldwide. Recent papers have shown that well over a hundred million frogs are taken out of the wild each year, and that frog farms have proliferated around the world. The frog legs trade is problematic whether the frogs are wild-caught or farm-raised:
1- The harvest of wild frogs leads to the depletion of wild populations;
2- The trade in farm-raised frogs leads to the spread of harmful infectious diseases;
3- The vast majority of farmed frogs are non-natives that become harmful invasive species.

Frogs in the Jakarta Market. Image by Alejandro Rosselli

SAVE THE FROGS! has initiated a campaign to remove frog legs from American restaurant menus. In the USA, there exist many other food choices, and thus there exists no justifiable reason to stress the world’s remaining frog populations. Our campaign has begun with Uncle Julio’s Rio Grande, a chain of 16 upscale Tex-Mex restaurants. You can read about this campaign here:
http://savethefrogs.com/actions/frog-legs/uncle-julios.html

PLEASE WRITE A LETTER TO UNCLE JULIO’S CEO!

Mr. Todd Conger, CEO
Uncle Julio’s Corporation
1101 N. Union Bower, Suite 160
Irving, Texas 75061

If Mr. Conger receives several thousand hardcopy letters from concerned citizens around the world, he will be far more likely to remove frog legs from his menus. This would be a significant victory for SAVE THE FROGS!, for amphibian conservation efforts, and of course for the frogs (who have enough problems already!).

Your letter is important! Please make your voice heard.

Please tell Mr. Conger:
1- A few sentences about yourself.
2- A few sentences about the problems with the frog legs trade, regardless of whether the frogs are farmed or captive-raised.
3- Urge him to remove frog legs from the menus of his 16 restaurants.
4- Remind him that his business will benefit significantly from the positive publicity associated with making this environmentally responsible decision.

Then ask your friends to write him too!
SAVE THE FROGS!

WHEN: Save The Frogs Day (Friday April 30th, 2010)
WHERE: TX, VA, MD, FL, IL and GA
WHO: Anyone can take part, help organize or help promote. Register your interest here.

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, and thus Uncle Julio’s Rio Grande restaurants are engaging in ecologically destructive trade practices.

Learn all about the frog legs trade here.
Learn all about Uncle Julio’s Rio Grande restaurants here.

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 will be holding peaceful (but highly visible!) protests in front of their restaurants this Save The Frogs Day, and at as many future dates as it takes for them to remove frog legs from their menus. These will be the first protests against the frog legs trade in the planet’s history.

Take part in the protests, or help us promote them!

Send Uncle Julio’s CEO this pre-written letter.

Please call Uncle Julio’s CEO Todd Conger and tell him how you feel!
972-554-6886