Frogs facing extinction

[Chiefmcfuz]

www.yearofthefrog.org

Figured this would be of interest to some here.

 

[Bling_my_leo]

That's sad. Poor frogs.

 

[RepBex]

i watched something about this on tv

they went to flim some yellow "waveing" frogs that waved to communicate and the frogs you saw then where the very last of the species they have now been removed from the wild so they do not die out

surely if this is a disease not of our makeing its purly nature designed a change in the food chain ?

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

They say it is one of the largest mass extinctions possible since the dinosaurs.

 

[blightedchemist]

What terrible news! If in fact this virus will be this devistating to amphibians, should or could they be saved?(as terrible as that sounds) or should nature take its course?(given that this virus is completely naturally occuring.)

 

[HepCatMoe]

surely if this is a disease not of our makeing its purly nature designed a change in the food chain ?

first off, man is impacting the entire planet. this disease might not be "of our making" but we are definately helping spread it around the world at a record pace, with planes, trains, ships, and cars.

second, nature is not a person and does not have a mind. nature doesnt "plan" anything.

 

[HepCatMoe]

What terrible news! If in fact this virus will be this devistating to amphibians, should or could they be saved?(as terrible as that sounds) or should nature take its course?(given that this virus is completely naturally occuring.)

if it was just the virus the frogs could probably deal with it.

the virus is just *1* problem the frogs are facing. they are also dealing with habitat loss, and invasive speacies to name a couple, which are directly humans fault.

right now there is basically no where left on the planet that is untouched by humans. and the swamps that make up prime frog habitat is usually drained and destroyed in order to make farms and housing projects.

i know people need food and house, and im not saying its 100% bad.

im just saying that expecting the frogs to take a beating from people and a crazy new disease is probably just too much.

what would be so great about letting nature take its course? in the end, the result would be less frogs, if not the total extinction of many speacies.

i keep hearing people saying the disease is "natural" and that really bothers me. the debate about what is "natural" is ridiculous on many levels. either there is nothing left in the world that is natural becuase humans have invaded last patch of land OR everything is natural, becuase lets face, humans are still a part of nature.

however you want to look at it, i dont think helping the frogs is a bad thing.

there is a choice to be made.

either we help the frogs and try to save something for the future, or we let "nature" take its course and most likely watch many species head towards oblivion.

 

[MeiK]

Not to bring up a dead thread - but the virus wasn't our doing - but spreading it around the globe WAS our fault.

We brought the African frogs carrying the chytrid fungus to America where they were irresponsibly released into the wild where it spread killing the frogs that weren't immune to it.