The popularity of frog legs as a delicacy threatens the existence of hundreds of frog species, according to an open letter to the French government.
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Last week, nearly 557 signatories urged President Emmanuel Macron to grant better protections to the world’s most traded frog species.
Indeed, these scientists and experts in the field hope that France “takes measures” to control imports of frog legs, threatening certain species in Asia or southeastern Europe.
AFP
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“We call on France to take steps to ensure that this trade is controlled by the CITES Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora in order to monitor and ensure sustainable trade,” they said. they write in the letter.
“We consider that France has a particular responsibility and should take this initiative,” they stressed, while more than 4,000 tonnes are imported into Europe each year.
The signatories include specialists from around the world practicing mainly in France, but also in Germany, the United States and India.
A voracious appetite that threatens biodiversity
In their letter, the 557 participants recalled that 4,070 tonnes of frozen frog legs are imported into the European Union per year – a substantial quantity.
This equates to approximately 80 million to 200 million frogs, depending on the size of the species.
They supply many European countries, but France is the largest consumer. Indeed, a study on the subject reveals that France imports more than 3,000 tonnes alone.
AFP
The problem for scientists is that these animals come “for the most part” from wild populations, more precisely from “Indonesia, Turkey, Albania and Vietnam”.
And because of their heavy hunting, several species populations are already experiencing “significant decline,” the experts worried in the letter.
The crab-eating frog (Fejervarya cancrivora) and the rice field frog (Fejervarya limnocharis) are among these species whose populations have declined in recent years.
And this would be caused by “intense commercial harvests” and “exports,” the letter added.
Frogs play an important role in ecosystems: tadpoles improve pond water quality, and amphibians can help farmers use fewer pesticides.
AFP
They could also help ward off infectious diseases by eating mosquitoes.
“At the same time, frogs can be bioindicators, their presence being a source of information on the state of health of an ecosystem,” the signatories stressed.
Active mobilizations for regime change
In addition to the signatories of the letter working in the fields of research, nature conservation and veterinary medicine, around forty NGOs have already made a similar request.
In February, these French and international organizations, including Robin des Bois, Pro Wildlife, France Nature Environnement and PETA, approached EU environment ministers.
Although frog populations in the European Union are protected against “commercial exploitation,” this protection does not extend to imports, according to the letter.
“This is absurd: natural populations of frogs in Europe are protected by legislation,” Sandra Altherr, scientific director of Pro Wildlife, explained in a press release.
“But the EU still tolerates the collection of millions of animals from other countries, even if it threatens frog populations. This is not at all consistent […].”
Thus, to curb the phenomenon, the signatories demand the development of proposals aimed at protecting the species of frogs in decline by France, and that there be monitoring, regulation and sustainability of the trade in frog legs governed by international commerce.