Selena Gomez and Kermit saving frogs

 I have a young daughter who loves The Disney Channel, and therefore I’ve come to know the very charming young actress Selena Gomez, star of the channel’s Wizards of Waverly Place. She is now appearing in a PSA on the amphibian crisis with Kermit the Frog. You can learn more about it on www.yearofthefrog.org. I looked up Selena’s origins on Wikipedia and see that her father comes from Mexico and her mother has Italian in her blood. So, Selena, if you’re reading this, thanks. And here are some links to show you what the frog situation is in Mexico and Italy:

• Link to AmphibiaWeb.org’s Mexico amphibian page.
• Link to AmphibiaWeb.org’s Italy page.

Here’s the full press release on the PSA:

PSA Launched to Help Amphibians Disney, Amphibian Ark, Conservation International (CI) and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) have launched a Public Service Announcement (PSA) starring Kermit the Frog and Selena Gomez from Disney Channel’s “The Wizards of Waverly Place” calling attention to the plight of the world’s amphibians. Washington, DC (Vocus/PRWEB ) September 3, 2008 -– Disney, Amphibian Ark, Conservation International (CI) and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) have launched a Public Service Announcement (PSA) starring Kermit the Frog and Selena Gomez from Disney Channel’s “The Wizards of Waverly Place” calling attention to the plight of the world’s amphibians.     The PSA began airing on Disney Channel this week and asks people to visit www.yearofthefrog.org to get involved in amphibian conservation. Broadcast quality copies of the PSA are available for download at http://newsinfusion.com/video_details.php?videoId=210. This year has been declared the Year of the Frog to mark a major conservation effort to address the amphibian crisis and to engage the public in conservation efforts. Frogs, toads, salamanders and other amphibians are in danger. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) predicts that at least one-third of known amphibian species are in danger of disappearing from the earth for good. “We are honored to have the help of Kermit and Selena to spread the message of amphibian conservation,” said AZA President and CEO Jim Maddy. “Amphibian Ark, Conservation International and zoos and aquariums around the world are working hard to save amphibians.” “The disappearance of amphibians around the world is not only a symptom of our impact on the planet, it is also an opportunity to unite in the challenge to do something about it. With nearly two decades of intensive research into the causes of amphibian declines, we are well positioned to implement conservation projects to save even Critically Endangered frogs, salamanders, and caecilians from extinction,” said Claude Gascon, Executive Vice President of Conservation International and Co-Chair of the Amphibian Specialist Group. “I cannot say it any better than Kermit did so many years ago: ‘It seems to me that if you wait until the frogs and toads have croaked their last to take some action, you’ve missed the point,’” said Amphibian Ark Program Director Kevin Zippel. “This is the greatest extinction event amphibians have ever experienced and humans have ever witnessed. Since we are the cause, we must also be the solution.” Amphibian Ark is a partnership between the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA), IUCN/SSC Conservation Breeding Specialist Group, and IUCN/SSC Amphibian Specialist Group. It was formed to develop, promote, and guide short term captive management of threatened amphibians, making possible the long-term survival of species for which adequate protection in the wild is not currently possible. For additional information about Amphibian Ark please visit www.amphibianark.org. Conservation International (CI) applies innovations in science, economics, policy and community participation to protect the Earth’s richest regions of plant and animal diversity in the biodiversity hotspots, high-biodiversity wilderness areas and key marine ecosystems. With headquarters in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, CI works in more than 40 countries on four continents. For more information about CI, visit www.conservation.org. Founded in 1924, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) is a nonprofit 501c(3) organization dedicated to the advancement of zoos and aquariums in the areas of conservation, education, science, and recreation. Look for the AZA logo whenever you visit a zoo or aquarium as your assurance that you are supporting an institution dedicated to providing excellent care for animals, a great experience for you, and a better future for all living things. With its more than 200 accredited members, the AZA is a leader in global wildlife conservation, and your link to helping animals in their native habitats. For more information, please visit www.aza.org.

 

April Fools for Frogs

Wouldn’t it be great if all of these facts were April Fools’ Day jokes? Sadly, they aren’t:

• Up to half of the world’s 6,000 amphibian species could go extinct in our lifetime, marking the most significant mass extinction since the dinosaurs.
• This forced the creation of Amphibian Ark by the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums and the World Conservation Union (IUCN) to direct the rescue and breeding of the 500 species in most imminent danger of disappearing. (Just in time, we hope.)
• To date, in the United States, only Clorox has stepped up to make a major corporate contribution to avert this mass extinction — even though just $100,000 saves an entire species.

 

Sir David Attenborough signs petition to save frogs

Here’s proof that Sir David Attenborough on Dec. 19 signed the “save the frog” petition that was sanctioned by the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums in Budapest in August. And here is the online petition you can go to, right now, to add your name.

 

Twelve things you can do about the amphibian crisis

Catty posed this to me a couple of days ago:  ”Hey, I was wondering if there’s anything people can do aside from blogging and write checks. Some of my fondest memories involve the time I spent watching amphibians and reptiles- especially frogs. I’d love to see a blog about what the average joe/joette can do, and also a list of other organizations working with Amphibian Ark that maybe needs support as well.”

First, here’s a “12 things to do list.” And at the bottom, I’ll put links to other organizations that would love your help.

1. (I know you know this already, but…) Donate. The only thing standing in the way of saving 500 amphibian species from extinction is $50-$60 million dollars. You can help pay for the physical implementation of the Amphibian Ark plan by donating through the PayPal button or sending a check to the address on the Ark’s donor page.
2. Send letters and emails to your elected officials. Governments across the world can allocate funds to pay for the protection of species in their regions. There are a lot of issues demanding their attention, so if you want to see your tax dollars working to avert this mass extinction, you may need to croak (er, speak) pretty loud. Here’s a link to a site that makes it easy to contact your U.S. congressional rep. Here’s how to contact the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, which includes all the wildlife and conservation areas of the federal government.
3. Learn what your zoo or botanical garden is doing in this effort, and volunteer to help them. Just call them and see where the conversation leads.
4. Call your state conservation department and ask if they need volunteers to help with any amphibian work or public education campaign. Here’s a link to a site that lists all the state conservation departments.
5. Ask your child, grandchild, or favorite niece’s teacher to invite the zoo or conservaton department into the classroom to talk about the problem.
6. Cut and paste this post from my blog and forward it to 10 friends, and ask them to do the same.
7. Call the science or environment reporter at your local newspaper, and ask him or her to do a story on the topic. Do the same with your favorite TV meteorologist.
8. Ask your mayor or city council to proclaim Feb. 29, 2008 (yes, it’s Leap Day) as the official “Day of the Frog” to encourage the public to get educated on the issue. You can include any of the documents from the Amphibian Ark Web site as attachments to your letters or emails.
9. Ask your favorite radio personality to get behind the cause and conduct a “frog-a-thon” to raise funds for Amphibian Ark.
10. Make a funny leapfrog video — yeah, you and some friends leapfrogging — display www.amphibianark.org at the end of it — and post it on YouTube and send it to friends. 
11. Reduce your impact on the environment. This great post explains more.
12. Sign the online petition to save the frogs.

Now, about those other organizations, besides Amphibian Ark, that could use some help:

 http://www.cbsg.org/cbsg/

http://www.iucn.org/en/involved/

http://www.worldwildlife.org/involved/

http://www.aza.org/

http://www.waza.org/home/index.php?main=home

(Do a search for “amphibian rescue” for many rescue organizations)

 

Hop til you drop with a green gift to save amphibian species

(Pass this along, please...) It’s a simple idea: Make this a “hop til you drop” holiday shopping season, and set aside a small portion of your spending for a green gift to save frogs and other amphibians that, otherwise, are hopping toward the most significant mass extinction since the dinosaurs. Last month, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) reported that:

“Species are becoming extinct a hundred times faster than the rate shown in the fossil record. Of the major vertebrate groups that have been assessed comprehensively, over 30 percent of amphibians, 23 percent of mammals and 12 percent of birds are threatened.”

The good news is, there is a logical, relatively simple plan to avert the amphibian extinction crisis. It’s called Amphibian Ark. More about that in a second.

Let’s say you’re that mythical, average person who told National Retail Federation pollsters that you plan to spend $923 on gifts this season.  A gift of only $50 to a wildlife cause represents just 5 percent of that amount. (Honestly, would you really miss it all that much?) If 2,000 people did that — let’s see, that’s one of every 151,500 people who live in the United States — it would raise $100,000, or enough to save a species like the Mountain Yellow Legged Frog of California.

Amphibian Ark brings the most threatened amphibian species into “protective custody” before they disappear due to loss of habitat, pollution, and even an “amphibian chytrid fungus” that’s spreading across the planet, possibly exacerbated by global warming (Kermit’s right: it’s not easy being green). Amphibian Ark puts the species in dedicated, biosecure facilities at zoos, aquariums, and other institutions around the world for safekeeping and breeding. These rescued amphibians will be reintroduced into the wild when the original threats have been controlled.

Amphibian Ark is a joint effort of three credible, proven conservation organizations – the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA), the IUCN/SSC Conservation Breeding Specialist Group (CBSG), and the IUCN/SSC Amphibian Specialist Group (ASG).

If you’re ready to hop til you drop before you shop til you drop, you can make a donation at this Web site:  http://www.amphibianark.org/donations.htm. But if for whatever reason frogs or salamanders aren’t your scene, do some research and give to a wildlife organization that’s making a difference.

 

Basketball, Amphibian Ark, and the Need for a Quick Win

I love basketball, but I was never good at it. That’s not Coach Dyer’s fault; he offered encouragement to me back in the seventh grade. I simply didn’t practice enough — didn’t repeat the muscle movements over and over again so that the proper form and motion happened automatically. Muscle memory, they call it.  

Now, I have to admit, I really don’t love amphibians. I never had a frog as a pet, never dragged my parents to the amphibian house when we would visit the zoo, and never understood, until recently, that they are the canaries in the coal mine for our planet’s health. But now that I know Kermit’s in big trouble, I can’t walk away from it.  A team of us at my company is helping a new organization, named Amphibian Ark, to rally support — from governments, corporations, foundations, and consumers — so that it can capture and breed hundreds of threatened amphibian species. 

Among the World Conservation Union’s (IUCN) Red List of most endangered wildlife, amphibians hold the distinction of potentially losing up to one-half of their entire class of animal life to extinction in our lifetime – almost 3,000 species. That would be the largest mass extinction since the dinosaurs. Amphibian Ark (AArk) was created by IUCN, Conservation Breeding Specialist Group, and the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums to do the urgent work that’s necessary to avert the mass extinction, while other organizations will tackle the longer term problems, such as  pollution and habitat loss.

It hasn’t been difficult getting media coverage for the issue, thankfully. But the ultimate success of Amphibian Ark depends on raising $50-$60 million pretty quickly. We need to make a personal impact with the people around the world who write checks, large and small. And let’s be honest, the number of environmental causes competing for funding is starting to look like an L.A. freeway at 4:00.

What separates Amphibian Ark, however, is its relative simplicity and potential for a speedy, happy ending. Once the money starts to flow, Kevin Zippel, a herpetologist and the master builder of the AArk plan, will dispatch scientists to remote areas of the world to capture species, then distribute the frogs, salamanders, newts, toads, and caecilians to multiple zoos.  They’re placing each species in several locations to reduce the chance of disease delivering a coup de grace.

Kevin would make a good basketball coach. He knows the X’s and O’s for saving frogs. He just needs a good booster organization. And we’re building it for him.

It seems to me that, in the U.S. at least, many of us think about our environment the same way I thought about basketball. It’s fun to take a few shots, but not much fun to stay after practice to shoot a hundred free throws. When you miss, you have to retrieve the errant ball, return to the line, and do it all over again. A hundred times, every day.  We need to develop muscle memory to face and manage the really important environmental issues. If we begin with a regimen a small steps to save our planet, confidently expecting a positive outcome for our sacrifice, the momentum will alter the future for our children and their children. A quick “win” would do wonders for conditioning that muscle. AArk can provide that quick win.Dr. Jeffrey Bonner, the president of the St. Louis Zoo, is the visionary who brought us into this issue. He asked us to sit down with him to discuss the action plan for fixing the amphibian crisis. He calls Amphibian Ark a landmark learning experience for mankind. I believe he’s right.

 

Great summary piece on the crisis and Amphibian Ark

Alisa Opar writes about the amphibian crisis and the Amphibian Ark connection in today’s Plenty Magazine online. 

 

The most threatened U.S. and Canada species

Here’s a new list of threatened amphibian species in the U.S. and Canada, ranked in order of priority for bringing into captivity and breeding under the Amphibian Ark initiative.  The plan in the U.S.  and Canada is going to be implemented by the zoos and aquariums accredited by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums.  The list starts on page 2. At the top of the list: the Ozark Hellbender, a salamander, pictured above.

 

RIP: The frog that burped her babies

The gastric-brooder (Rheobatrachus silus) was discovered in the 1970s and vanished within 20 years. The culprit? You guessed it: chytrid. This miracle of Australia would hatch its eggs in her stomach and then, voila!, the little brooder-ettes would hop out of her mouth. Now, you should be asking yourself how eggs could survive in a stomach full of enzymes to break down food. The fact is, enzyme production somehow shut down during gestation. Scientists think that a lot could have been learned from it all – a cure for gastric ulcers, perhaps, or new insights for treating obesity. But we’ll never know.  Once you’re extinct, there’s no rewind button.

 

The Pregnancy Test That Birthed A Global Epidemic

Back in the 1930s and 1940s, the African Clawed Frog was discovered to be a heck of a good pregnancy test. The species is indigenous to southern Africa and is immune to something else indigenous to the region — chytrid fungus. So when the frog was shipped around the world for this medical use, it brought the chytrid fungus along for the ride.  Wherever the fungus took root in countless new places around the world, it was fatal to 80% of the new species it encountered. So what’s it really do? See “TBS Program…” post from yesterday. Or here are two articles: a good overview by the Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service and one filled with science jargon by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.