Goa Frogs

birds

This evening I attended a meeting of WildGoa, a small grassroots outfit set up by Clinton Vaz. The topic of this evening was frogs.

Two days ago the first pre-monsoon rains stroke Goa and the next morning you could hear the familiar croak of frogs for who the rains were a wake-up call to come out of hibernation.

Unfortunately for the frogs, the very same call that attracts their mates for breeding, also attracts a lot of uninformed and misguided guys who catch the animals to sell their legs as a local delicacy (INR 300 per plate). The modus of operating is to canvas the paddy fields at night, blind the frogs with torches, throw them into sacks by the hundreds and sell them to restaurateurs who simply skin and cut of their legs while they are alive and leave them to die a slow and painful death.

Dinners tend to be unaware that the fat in the meat of this jumping chicken contains toxic recalcitrant residues from chemical fertilizers in the fields and if consumed, could trigger a stroke, or cause cancer or kidney failure.

Besides that, frogs are protected under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 and the government of India has banned the catching, killing, selling, serving, eating and export of frogs and frog legs which carries a maximum a punishment of up to four years prison.

Over the last 2 years, WildGoa (wildgoa@yahoogroups.com) volunteers have gone into the fields stopping poachers though non-violent means of information, education and politeness. They have had a tremendous success rate and encouraged by the response over the last two years.

How can tourists help? By saying NO to restaurants offering frog on the menu. If you come across any place where they offer frog meat you can chose to inform the Chief Wildlife Warden on 0832-222 8772.

(Moderators, this telephone number is published on government produced posters to help saving frogs, so available to the general public).

Attached Thumbnails

 

PeakXV

Interesting and informative article birds. Although the protypical scare-mongering line of eat meat/ animal fat and risk cancer, renal shutdown and/or stroke is a little much.

__________________
We shall not cease from exploration and at the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started ...and know the place for the first time.
T.S. Eliot

Don't go to India ~ Pre-trip Warnings & Misconceptions?

steven_ber

The photos reminded me of Thai village markets where you'll often see skinned frogs for sale, still alive and wriggling about, a dreadful sight.

__________________
.
How to get helpful replies to your transport/Itinerary questions.



Train information.

birds

I agree. When I wrote it I took cues from a poster made by the forest department on this issue but I should have left that bit out for IM.

Nonetheless, I think the health warning will work quite well with some of the less enlightened folk for who the posters are meant.

Nick-H

Peak, I don't think Birds is doing a veggie-propoganda thing here, but referring to a specific risk associated with these frogs.

I don't know what to say, other than to agree that us humans to some pretty disgusting and inhuman things to each other and our fellow creatures.

I'm nowhere near that part of the world: but should I ever encounter this, then not only will I not order the dish, I won't patronise the restaurant.

__________________
.


Just one member of the IndiaMike Mod Team

T.I.P

I am not sure about this?

What is the source of your information..

What about the class 11th and 12th children who cut open frogs in their biology class?

__________________
http://www.TheIndianPhotographer.blog spot.com
http://www.TheIndianPhotographer.Free Forums.org

birds

This morning I showed the posters to the guys in our office who come from Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. According to them frog poaching and eating is common practice in many parts of India. The Keralites were even involved in it themselves when they were younger ).

Apparently it is the Portuguese who introduced the practice of frog eating in India which may be reason why it is particularly popular in regions where there was a lot of Portuguese influence (for Portuguese settlements in India see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:E..._1501-1739.png, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_India ).

On Wikipedia, Kerala is specifically singled out (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frog_legs) but other sources also point to other regions. In West Bengal there is apparently a huge organised trade (they had both frog eating colonialists; the Portuguese and the French!).

Perhaps in Goa there is a large market for frog legs because Goa is still quite rural and compared to other rural areas, has many restaurants and people who have the means to spend on exotic foods.

Sources:
§ Chief Wildlife Warden Government of Goa
§ http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/a...ow/1156767.cms
§ Ecological effects of the frog's legs trade, a study by Dr G.M. Oza, reader in Botany in the Faculty of Science at the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. He is also General Secretary of the International Society of Naturalists (INSONA), and Founding Editor of Environmental Awareness. He serves as a Member of the Commission on Ecology and the Commission on Education and Training of IUCN — the World Conservation Union.
§ World Wildlife Fund (WWF)

Fortunately, students in India can lay down their scalpels: In 1997, the Delhi High Court ruled that every student has the right to a humane alternative to dissection. Alternatives, ranging from anatomically correct models of human organs to sophisticated computer programs, are readily available.

PeakXV

No Nick, I agree but those generalizations are unsubstantiated and you would just hate for somebody to read it and have a cloud hanging over there head for eating one frickin frog leg. An animal rights protestor shouted a similar line to me outside a fish mart one day .... I said "what for eating one flippin fish"!

I mean how many frog legs would you have to eat in order for that to definitely happen 1, 10, 100 ..... a whole croaking pond full of them!

Albeit these chemicals are a growing concern and infiltrating all areas of the food chain but I doubt there has been many specific lab tests or scientific studies down with frogs to back up these specific health risks. And there are countries in which frog legs are considered a delicacy .... so some unsuspecting, previously uninformed tourists may occasionally sample these dishes without thinking twice.

shashank.aggarwal

I am not sure about the logic of this one..

even though frogs are disected in schools but they are not killed....

disection is done under supervision of an expert and after that frogs are stitched back medically..to live another day..

__________________
Travelogue - Around India
Random Reviews

Nick-H

Good Grief, they weren't at my school.

But I think they were dead before the dissection

freenote

shame ,shame , i know i am bad ,but it apears to me that on this little planet of ours every thing eats everything else and the only one's that complain are us .It's all a part of it ,all must leave this mortal coil sometime ,respect yes , but frogs legs go very well with a bit of garlic . we all have our personal limits and most are different ,mine i cannot eat dog !!!! (but if i were starving ?) It's all down to your own sensibilities some will not even take antibiotics ,those little pill things kill as well as saving lives .My apologies if i have offended anyone is not intended .

crvlvr

Who would ever think that frogs were an endangered species. I refused to be live it, but doun out that yes, it is outlawed in India.

I hope they don't give medical students the same option. I would hate to be operated on by a doctor who has been practising on only models.

birds

The point is not whether they taste well or not, the point is that the poaching has caused a drastic decline in their population and is seriously threatening their existence in the wild. Most poaching happens during the monsoon, which is the frogs breeding period. This in turn affects the total ecological balance (more mosquitoes, more water born diseases and, apparently, snakes moving from paddy fields into houses as they change their diet from frogs to mice/rats).

It is not dissimilar to the argument of shatoosh; no doubt that is very beautiful and soft but wearing it almost certainly means poaching which now results in the animal being near extinct.

If people want to eat frogs they can opt for 'farmed' frogs which could even create employment.

How are models different from practicing on a frog? Afterall, how much physical similarity is there between you (I assume a human ;-) and a frog?

shashank.aggarwal

Too many..infact they are closest to man..i guess..

navinkurian2002

Clinton rocks ! One of the few goans who really does a lot to help environment in goa.

__________________
It doesn't interest me what you do for a living.
I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare dream of meeting your heart's longing. Budget Hotels ]