Forest officers however continue their extensive patrolling of paddy fields and marshy areas even when they don’t receive information about poachers. The Save the Frog campaign that was initiated around six years ago has also turned out to be a success. Clinton Vaz who initiated the campaign said awareness was low then and it was difficult to get authorities to enforce the law.
“The police would tell us frog poaching wasn’t an offence and there wasn’t any need to register a complaint.” The forest department has pulled up its socks after the campaign and at the onset of the monsoon each year it issues notices to all eateries warning them about
putting ‘jumping chicken’ (as frogs legs are known in Goa) on their menu. Brochures are also handed out in Konkani explaining the need
to protect the species.
While frog poaching usually takes place in fields at the beginning of the monsoon season, there’s no ruling out that they don’t happen surreptitiously in forests and as the monsoons progress. The first rains bring the amphibians out of their hibernation. Their reflexes
are slow and the water level in fields not high enough for them to swim. Poachers shine a torch in their eyes to stun them, pick them
up and stuff them into gunny bags. Only the fleshy legs are eaten. As the rains progress they become more active and the
water is enough for them to swim.
The department has in the past has also
spoken about the health risks of consuming
frogs because of the toxin residues in their
bodies. Continuous consumption of frogs
over a period of time could trigger paralytic
strokes, cancers, kidney failures and other
deformities.
Deputy Conservator of Forests Anil Kumar
says the erratic monsoon season can
also work against the species. “Frogs need
a sustained period of rain to breed and tadpoles
require relatively long period of rains
to survive the breeding. The lack of rainfall
will affect their breeding and their population
in turn.”
The department is planning rallies, talk
shows and various other programmes this
month to raise more awareness about the
species and its importance in the ecological
cycle. In the third week of July the Wildlife
Crime Control Bureau, a statutory body established
by the Government of India under
the Ministry of Environment and Forests
to combat organised wildlife crime in the
country will be coming down to Goa to hold
interdepartmental meetings.
A first of its kind meeting in the state,
the bureau will meet with departments of
tourism, fisheries, customs, police, excise
and navy to control poaching of wildlife.
