Fast-breeding bullfrog shows up in Vancouver suburb
Last Updated: Thursday, March 27, 2008 | 1:04 PM PT
CBC News
A municipal politician in Delta, B.C., says she is worried that parts of the Vancouver suburb could soon be overrun by fast-breeding carnivorous frogs.
After an American bullfrog was spotted at the edge of a local bog, Delta Coun. Vicki Huntington tabled a motion that would require the city to study the size of the local American bullfrog population and how it can be controlled.
American bullfrogs are large — they can weigh up to 1.5 pounds — and prolific — a female can lay 20,000 eggs at a time.
The species can populate large areas and tends to squeeze out other species. And it is a voracious carnivore.
"It can eat ducklings. It will eat fish, it will eat other frogs,'' said Huntington.
Huntington is right to be concerned, said Stan Orchard, a biologist specializing in amphibian and reptile conservation.
He says American bullfrog infestations have become a problem around the world.
The best way to deal with it, Orchard says, is to analyze the population in such a way that the outer limits of the infested area can be determined.
"You start from the perimeter of the distribution and eat away at it,'' he said.
Orchard said the frogs should be captured and killed.
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