Defenders Urges USFWS to Ban Importation of Live Frogs That May Have Chytrid

Chytrid infected frog

Defenders of Wildlife has submitted a proposal to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to ban the importation of live frogs unless they are accompanied by a health certificate verifying that they are free of the chytrid, which killed the frog shown here. (Photo by Brian Gratwicke, Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute)

The global amphibian trade has been indicted as the culprit in the spread of the deadly chytrid fungus. A study published in New Scientist  calls for an amphibian quarantine to help slow the disease’s spread.

The study sequenced the genomes of 20 samples of Bd, collected in Europe, Africa, North and South America and Australia. They found that 16 of the 20 samples were genetically identical.

The researchers say the explanation for this is simple, that world-wide trade in amphibians enabled the spread of this disease.

The researchers suggest that countries quarantine all imported amphibians and only allow them to stay if they are not infected.

Defenders of Wildlife, a partner in the Panamanian Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project, has submitted a proposal to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to ban the importation of live frogs unless they are accompanied by a health certificate verifying that they are free of the chytrid fungus.

“Billions of frogs are traded internationally each year for human consumption, and that industry is responsible for depleting wild populations, spreading deadly disease, and allowing invasive species to destroy the health of native ecosystems,” said Alejandra Goyenechea, counsel for the international conservation programs for Defenders of Wildlife.

Defenders is working with the upcoming CITES Animals Committee to ensure that the international trade of frogs is not detrimental to their survival and with CITES Parties to bring awareness on the international trade of frog legs with our report.

Cindy Hoffman, Defenders of Wildlife

Detailing the Darien: Defenders Magazine Profiles a Riveting Rescue Expedition

Mark Cheater

Mark Cheater accompanied the rescue project to the Darien last year, writing about it for Defenders magazine.

Ever wonder how scientists find and protect rare amphibians? I wanted to find out, and I persuaded the folks at the Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project to let me accompany them on an expedition to the Darien region of Panama last June in search of rare Toad Mountain harlequin frogs. I discovered that not only is working in the field physically demanding—spending long hours hiking through jungles and up rivers to find and capture the frogs—but it’s also dangerous, involving frequent encounters with venomous snakes and scores of biting insects. To learn more about the hazards and rewards of rescuing  imperiled frogs, check out my story—and an accompanying behind-the-scenes slideshow—in the new issue of Defenders magazine:

http://www.defenders.org/newsroom/defenders_magazine/winter_2011/rescue_at_toad_mountain.php

Mark Cheater, Defenders of Wildlife

Workshop in Chile targets the protection of the Chilean frog

Workshop participants

About 30 government officials and biologists from both academia and national zoos joined Defenders of Wildlife's international conservation expert Alejandra Goyenechea to share ideas about how to conserve their Chilean frog. (Photo courtesy of Defenders of Wildlife)

Frogs all over the world are in trouble as the result of a number of challenges: Habitat destruction, over use, pollution, and as we all know, chytrid.  All of the rescue project’s partners are working on multiple fronts to save the frogs.

Defenders of Wildlife has zeroed in on the plight of the Chilean frog. This little green giant lurks in the temperate forests of Chile but it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find.

The Chilean frog (known variously as Calyptocephalella gayi and Caudiverbera caudiverbera) is able to mask its relatively massive girth in the trees of the Andean foothills, thanks to its knobby back and splotchy verdant skin. But this nifty camouflage isn’t enough to save it from over-collection by locals who both eat the frog and sell them illegally to other countries.

What’s worse, Chilean frogs are losing habitat quickly in central Chile where growing urban centers are pushing the creatures out of their native homes. Agricultural runoff and other forms of water pollution also threaten the frogs’ ability to survive.

Chilean frog

Chilean frogs have seen a 30 percent decline in the population over the last ten years. (Photo courtesy of Jose Grau, Puerto Montt)

The result is a 30 percent decline in the population over the last ten years—an alarming drop-off that could spell disaster for this endemic species in the coming decades. Climate change could further accelerate their demise by raising water temperatures just a few degrees above what these cool-water creatures can tolerate.

Fortunately, the Chilean government has taken notice and is now enlisting conservation experts and biologists to come up with a plan to save Chilean frogs. The frogs were given “vulnerable” status by the Chilean government in 2008 and are already on the IUCN Red List, but no formal conservation plan has been adopted. Having such a plan in place is a requirement for listing under Appendix III of CITES, a move that would put a legal requirement  on foreign trade and help raise awareness.

On Nov. 23, Defenders’ international conservation expert Alejandra Goyenechea ran a day-long workshop in Santiago, Chile’s capital, to identify key threats to the species and brainstorm ways to protect the frogs’ future.

About 30 government officials and biologists from both academia and national zoos joined Alejandra to share ideas about how to conserve their Chilean frog. The group recommended changes to agricultural laws to limit water pollution and identified needs for further research and education. Officials from the Chilean agriculture ministry will use the information gathered from the workshop to write a conservation plan to be submitted to the CITES Secretariat.

Cindy Hoffman, Defenders of Wildlife

Defenders of Wildlife Strives for Another Miracle in Chile

Chilean frog (Calyptocephalella gayi)

Defenders of Wildlife, one of the Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project partners will be working with the Chilean government to come up with a conservation plan for the Chilean frog (Calyptocephalella gayi).

Chile is in the news these days for good reason—33 miners trapped 2,000 feet under the earth for 70 days. But with dedication and perseverance, experts from Chile and others from across the globe managed to rescue every single one of these miners as we all looked on. That perseverance and dedication will be critical to rescue something else as well: the Chilean frog (Calyptocephalella gayi, also known as Caudiverbera caudiverbera)

Defenders of Wildlife, which is already helping to save Panamanian species of frogs as part of the Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project, is preparing a workshop with the government of Chile to design a Conservation Plan for the Chilean frog. This planning is part of the requirement from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to include the frog in Appendix III. This means that international trade of these animals is allowed only on presentation of the appropriate permits or certificates.

The Chilean frog is native to Chile and classified as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Its population has declined 30 percent over the last 10 years as the result of over-exploitation for the food and pet industry and habitat loss for development of agriculture. Like many species of frogs in Panama and across the world, these frogs may also be susceptible to the deadly chytrid disease. Between 2003 and 2007, more than 10,800 wild specimens were imported to the United States for commercial purposes. This little guy is in trouble, but with luck another miracle can be pulled off in Chile. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

The workshop will take place Nov. 23 in Santiago de Chile, Chile. Participants will include academia, scientists, governmental officials and civil society. For more information, contact Alejandra Goyenechea.

Cindy Hoffman, Defenders of Wildlife

Mark Cheater: The Week of Living Dangerously

Defenders of Wildlife's Mark Cheater holds a Toad Mountain harlequin frog he collected on a recent expedition to the Darien. (Photo courtesy of Mark Cheater, Defenders of Wildlife)

Defenders of Wildlife's Mark Cheater holds a Toad Mountain harlequin frog project researchers collected on a recent expedition to the Darien. Cheater's story on the Cerro Sapo expedition is scheduled to run in the winter issue of Defenders magazine. (Photo courtesy of Mark Cheater, Defenders of Wildlife)

The toughest work week of my life. That’s how I described my Panama trip to colleagues at Defenders of Wildlife, after returning in late June from a week in the field with scientists from the amphibian rescue project. I was documenting their work for an upcoming story in Defenders magazine.

I got my first hint of how challenging the assignment would be when I first contacted project director Brian Gratwicke last winter about sending someone along on a rescue expedition. “Send us somebody young and fit!” he said. Youth is overrated, I told myself. I go to the gym regularly and hike, bike and kayak on weekends—so I qualified as fit. But just to be sure, several weeks before the trip I stepped up my workouts to a daily regimen of running and weight training, and lengthened my weekend hiking forays.

 By the time I left for Panama in late June, I had lost several pounds and could comfortably carry a full backpack for an afternoon in the mountains near my home in Washington, D.C. Plus, this wasn’t my first such trip—on previous assignments I had accompanied field biologists as they tracked wolves in Idaho, wild cats in northern Mexico, and rare salamanders in the Appalachians.  How hard could this trip be?

Harder than I imagined.

The first day in the field began with a 3 a.m. wake-up call in Panama City, packing vehicles in the dark and then driving four-and-a half-hours into the Darien region of southern Panama—a place notorious for drug runners, armed rebels and assorted other outlaws. We were reminded of these hazards frequently, as dour, armed soldiers stopped us at checkpoints to look at our passports, examine our equipment and quiz us about our destination and intentions. By mid-morning, we reached a small port town and then transferred our gear into a motorboat for a two-hour trip to Garachine, a coastal village on the northwestern edge of Darien National Park.

Project researchers collected nearly 80 healthy Toad Mountain harlequin frogs on their June expedition to the Darien.

A Toad Mountain harlequin frog sits on a mossy boulder alongside the San Antonio River. Project researchers collected nearly 80 healthy Toad Mountain harlequin frogs on their June expedition to the Darien. (Photo courtesy of Mark Cheater, Defenders of Wildlife)

In Garachine, we hired native Embera people as guides and porters, distributed most of our gear between them and their horses, and set out in the steamy early afternoon heat up the San Antonio River to our destination—Cerro Sapo, or Toad Mountain. Within an hour of starting our trek, my hiking boots had turned into muddy weights around my ankles—waterlogged from repeated river crossings and slathered in the brown ooze that passes for a trail in this area. Moving uphill into the jungle became harder, but I soldiered on, sweating through my shirt in the heat and humidity.

After about five hours of hiking, the trail ended—and the best way upriver was to literally go up the river. Hiking in the water was doable when the San Antonio was shallow and gravelly, but such placid stretches were rare as we moved up the mountain—they were interrupted frequently by slick, algae-covered boulders and stones; narrow, watery ledges next to deep pools; or impassable waterfalls, which had to be circumvented by hacking through trees, vines, palms and other vegetation in the surrounding jungle with machetes.

Then it got dark.

 What had been a demanding hike now became dangerous. Even though we all had headlamps or flashlights, they couldn’t illuminate every slippery rock or deep pool or twisted vine. One misstep or slip could mean a badly twisted ankle or bruised limb—or much worse. And the nearest doctor was a six-hour hike back down the river. I gritted my teeth and swallowed my pride, carefully calibrating every step with my hiking pole like an octogenarian with a cane, or, when I didn’t trust my footing, sitting down and sliding over rocks or down muddy embankments on my backside. It couldn’t possibly get worse than this, I reasoned.

One of a number of fer de lances that Cheater came across during his expedition to the Darien with the rescue project. The fer de lance is one of the most dangerous snakes in the world. (Photo courtesy of Mark Cheater, Defenders of Wildlife)

One of several poisonous fer de lance snakes encountered by the Cerro Sapo expedition team. The fer de lance is one of the most dangerous snakes in the world. (Photo courtesy of Mark Cheater, Defenders of Wildlife)

That’s when we saw the snake.

We were making one of our frequent bushwhacking forays around an impassable section of the river when one of our porters stopped suddenly and said “culebra!”—Spanish for ‘snake.’  It wasn’t just any snake that he had nearly stepped on. This yellowish-brown creature in the light of our headlamps was a fer de lance, one of the most dangerous snakes in the world. Edgardo Griffith, one of the biologists on the expedition, carefully moved the viper out of our path and into the darkness with his snake hook—a metal pole with a crook at the tip, around which snakes will instinctively wrap themselves. This particular fer de lance was a juvenile, he said, trying to reassure me. “It probably couldn’t kill you—you’d just lose the leg or arm where it bit you.”  I didn’t find much comfort in his words.  

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity in the dark, we sloshed across a gentle section of the river and climbed about 50 feet up a steep, muddy embankment. There we found a slightly less steep, muddy section of jungle that had been cleared of vegetation and roofed with several blue plastic tarps suspended from nearby trees.  This was the Cerro Sapo base camp—our home for the next few days. Someone cooked up a dinner of rice and beans—the first real meal of the day. My stomach was in knots from the stress of the previous eight hours of hiking, but I reasoned that I should eat—and then discovered I could barely open my mouth because I had been clenching my teeth so tightly my jaw muscles had frozen.  I pushed a few spoonfuls into my gullet and collapsed in my tent.  

What had I gotten myself into? Could I survive another four days of this?

"By the time I left for Panama in late June, I had lost several pounds and could comfortably carry a full backpack for an afternoon in the mountains near my home in Washington, D.C.," Cheater says. "How hard could this trip be? Harder than I imaged."

Bob Chastain of the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo searches for Toad Mountain harlequin frogs in and around the San Antonio River. (Photo courtesy of Mark Cheater, Defenders of Wildlife)

The short answer is that I did survive. The following days brought many more long difficult hikes upstream, finding and capturing the small, colorful harlequin frogs that were the focus of this rescue expedition. We encountered several more fer de lances along the way, along with whip scorpions and other large spiders, and a wide variety of biting ants, gnats, mosquitoes, midges and flies.  One or more of the biting insects attacked my feet, causing them to swell up to twice their normal size, adding a new challenge to the already difficult task of walking. And there was mud everywhere and on everything—on clothes, skin, equipment, dishes, utensils, tents.

But none of us got seriously injured or sick. And, despite the challenges we encountered in the jungle, we managed to bring back nearly 80 healthy Toad Mountain harlequin frogs to the rescue facility at Summit Zoo in Panama City. The frogs have proved to be free of the chytrid fungus that is devastating amphibians in so many other parts of Panama—and worldwide. Now begins the long task of breeding these animals and keeping them safe in captivity until a cure for the fungal epidemic is developed. If successful, Toad Mountain harlequin frogs may be spared the fate of the dozens of other species that have succumbed to the chytrid epidemic.  

So, yes, it was the toughest week in my career—but also one of the most fascinating and rewarding. 

Mark Cheater is editor of Defenders magazine, the quarterly membership magazine of Defenders of Wildlife. His story on the Cerro Sapo expedition is scheduled to run in the winter issue of the magazine.

Cindy Hoffman: Frog savers of the future

On September 23, Jeff Corwin of Animal Planet fame and Defenders of Wildlife went to the National Zoo to launch the “Feeling the Heat with Jeff Corwin” series of 11 videos on the impacts of global warming on wildlife and release Jeff’s series of 4 children’s books.

Water quality testing in Rock CreekAnd on this sunny morning, Jeff met up on the banks of Rock Creek with 30 lucky third-graders from Chevy Chase Elementary school to learn a little about frogs. Together, the team assessed the habitat and the water quality in the stream, finding that it was pretty good. That’s good news for frogs, especially in such an urban environment.

But as we learned that day, frogs all over the planet are in the fight of their lives. Jeff showed us the Amazonian horned frog, a very cool frog with a really big mouth, and then he introduced us to one of the most threatened frogs on Earth….one of the few Panamanian golden frogs left in the world. These little beauties are being impacted by chytrid fungus and have been extirpated from the wild.

Jeff showed the kids his new Defenders of Wildlife video on frogs from the “Feeling the Heat” series, which highlights the impacts that chytrid fungus  and a changing climate are having on frogs and other amphibians. It set the stage for a discussion about the impacts of chytrid fungus on Panamanian golden frogs, why the kids felt frogs were important and what the Panama Amphibian Rescue Project is doing to save them.

By the end of the day, the students were charmed by the many frog ambassadors at the zoo and concerned about their plight. They all walked away with a signed book from the Jeff Corwin children’s book series and hopefully a memorable experience they will pass on to others about the fragility of life on earth and our responsibility to conserve, because these young minds are the environmental stewards of the future.

“Feeling the heat” videos and books can be found at www.defenders.org/jeffcorwin