Where Have All the Frogs Gone?

Written by Tammie Byram Fowles, PhD, LISW-CP

"When we heal the earth, we heal ourselves." David Orr

My mother and I were reminiscing as we sat outside on the deck yesterday, admiring the Cosmos' and Zinnia's blooming in my modest little garden. We sipped coffee and nibbled on pumpkin muffins while exchanging favorite stories from our shared treasure of memories.

"Do you remember all those frogs that we found in the basement?" my mother asked. "They were everywhere! On the stairs, on the furniture, in boxes, it took us forever to get rid of them," she recalled, shuddering. The memory was still a decidedly unpleasant one for her. I felt my lips twitch as I tried not to smile. All of the sudden, I felt very much like I suspect my daughter feels when I've caught her in the act.

When I was a little girl, I used to ride on the lawnmower with my father. One day I noticed the frogs jumping in front of the mower. I asked him what happened to the frogs when we mowed the lawn. He told me that most of them probably jumped out of the way. But what about the ones who're sleeping, or who aren't fast enough to get out of the way? I wanted to know. He answered that they probably got run over. I was horrified! The poor frogs!

advertisement

That summer I was far less of a bother to my mother. I entertained myself from morning till dinnertime, coming in from outside only when she called me. I also slept well at night, exhausted by my outdoor adventure. Mom was pleased that I was playing outside in the sunshine, instead of cooped up indoors with a book.

And that was also the summer that the frogs took over our basement. You see, what mom didn't know, was that I had not only discovered a way to amuse myself, I'd become an activist! My mission - to save the frogs! I filled an old wash pail over and over, day after day, with the little furless creatures. Then, I dumped them in the basement. No lawnmower was gonna chew these guys up!

What occurred to me as I remembered the summer the frogs took over the basement, was that there didn't seem to be nearly as many frogs around as there used to be.

An article in the New York Times, published in 1992, confirmed my suspicion. It noted that the number of frogs in the world are diminishing at an alarming rate. They're not only dying, many of their eggs aren't hatching, and according to an article in the Washington Post, a significant number of frogs in the Great Lakes region have been spotted with severe deformities and mutations.

"Why is this so alarming? They're only frogs," you may very well respond. "They don't make good pets, and don't build, buy, or vote."

But I am alarmed. I'm afraid more than anything else of what the very possible message of the frogs may mean for my child and for yours.

It's as a mother most of all that my stomach muscles clench when I read an article in Scientific America which advises that the diminishing amphibian population is cause for concern because they, "may serve as indicators of the overall condition of the environment." The authors point out that a species now in rapid decline, one which has managed to survive for hundreds of millions of years, and prevailed during periods of mass extinction when many species (including the dinosaurs) did not, takes with it more than most of us recognize. Frogs who feed on mosquitoes (among other tiny creatures), provide food for fish, mammals, aquatic insects, and birds. When we go to the local drug store to fill a prescription, few of us stop to consider the source from which many of our medicines are derived. Frogs and other amphibians contribute significantly to the storehouse of pharmaceutical products upon which humans depend. Scientific America warns that, "As amphibians disappear, potential cures for a number of maladies go with them."

Do you remember hearing about how miners used to take canaries with them down into the mines? When the canary died, it served to warn the miners that their lives too were in danger. Gary W. Harding in, "Human Population Growth and the Accelerating Rate of Species Extinction," points out that the frog very well may be to us, what the canary was to the miner.

Frog's are extremely vulnerable to ultraviolet light, as well as sensitive to water, air, and soil pollutants. If the hypothesis that the concentration of worldwide pollutants has reached a lethal level for a species that's survived for approximately 300 million years proves to be true, what does that mean for us? Harding speculates that, "if frogs go, can we be far behind?"

Ecologist, Wendy Roberts warns, "Since frogs and other amphibians are sensitive to environmental changes, their well-being and very existence carry a message about the state of their surroundings...I think it really is time to be worried about this."

An article in the Sierra begins, "Unprecedented biological collapse has begun worldwide according to a Worldwatch Institute report...Furthermore, climate change from carbon dioxide emissions is likely to accelerate the massive wave of extinctions."