Another Law Enacted To Protect Frogs
An Animal Rights Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM

Save the Frogs
March 2012

At the request of SAVE THE FROGS!, on January 24th the City of Santa Cruz became the first city in the USA to ban bullfrogs.

More recently, on February 28th I spoke to the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors, and they followed suit by voting unanimously to ban the importation, sale and purchase of American Bullfrogs in the county.

We are now moving to the state level and hope to soon make California the first state in the country to ban these non-native predators that are imported into the state by the millions each year for use as pets and frog legs.

From San Jose Mercury:

Santa Cruz County bans sale and importation of bullfrogs

By Jason Hoppin,
Santa Cruz Sentinel, February 28, 2012

The Santa Cruz County board of supervisors on Tuesday joined in a local ban of American bullfrogs, part of an effort to evict the big-mouthed, eat-anything, unwanted guest from county lands.

The unanimous vote follows a vote by the city of Santa Cruz, with supporters hoping to win support for an eventual statewide ban. They say the frogs, native to the northeastern U.S., are an invasive species that wreaks havoc on the local environmental, including devouring three local species of endangered amphibians.

"Bullfrogs are a predatory, non-native species that eats our native wildlife and spreads disease," said Kerry Kriger, founder and executive director of Save the Frogs. He said they will eat endangered California red-legged frogs and two local endangered salamanders.

A quick survey of local pet shops didn't find one that sold the frogs. Rather, Kriger said they are imported into California primarily as food, winding up as plates in French, Tex-Mex, and, especially in the Bay Area, Chinese restaurants.

The board's unanimous vote bans the importation and sale of the frogs, but stopped short of banning their possession.

Aaron King, owner of Trop-Aquarium on Mission Street, said his store does not carry bullfrogs because they are invasive. Bullfrogs can get their mouths around surprisingly large prey -- even mice -- and devour them whole.

They eat just about anything and everything," King said. 


Return to Animal Rights Articles
Read more at Litigation