Gunther's skin swab was sent to a testing lab in San Diego. It could take up to two weeks for the results to come back. In the meantime it occurs to me that I'm flushing chytrid spores down the drain and into the local environment every time I change Gunther's water. If my frog does carry the fungus, he'll have to spend about 10 days in an antifungal bath—a moderately unpleasant treatment which will cure him of the infection, but which is not available to his millions of wild relatives.

2 Comments

1. 1. BrianSchmidt 06:52 PM 7/21/12

   Regulating this aspect of the pet trade sounds like a great idea, but so much damage has already been done. Maybe there should be a pre-supposition against pets that can survive in the wild or transmit diseases into the wild. Same with plants.

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2. 2. Eric Mills 02:29 PM 7/22/12

   The pet trade is a likely suspect, but not the worst.
   
   A bigger problem are the American bullfrogs, commercially-raised for the live animal food markets in numerous "Chinatowns" across the nation, indeed throughout the world.
   
   A 2009 study in BIOLOGICAL CONSERVATION noted that, of the market bullfrogs necropsied, 62% tested positive for the chytrid fungus (Bd). The bullfrogs do not succumb to Bd, but they certainly disperse it. California annually imports some two million bullfrogs for food. Many are bought and released into the wild by well-meaning but uninformed "do-gooders," or by certain religious sects in "animal liberation" ceremonies. California state law requires that the market frogs be killed before leaving the markets, but is often ignored. Only two weeks ago I bought nine frogs from nine different markets in San Francisco and Oakland. Three of them tested positive for chytrid--the others were declared "contaminated"--so it was probably even worse. And three of those nine were still alive when they reached the lab.
   
   Here in California, the State Fish & Game Commission voted unanimously (twice) to instruct the Dept. of Fish & Game to cease issuing imports for market turtles and frogs. The Dept. chose to ignore the Commission, and continues to issue the permits on a month to month basis. When challenged by an irate Commission, the Dept.'s Deputy Director could only mutter, "The Director acts at the pleasure of the Governor." So much for the democratic process and any real concern about protecting our native natural resources.....
   
   The European Union and Australia permit the importation of only FROZEN frog parts for food. The entire world should do the same.
   
   x
   Eric Mills, coordinator
   ACTION FOR ANIMALS
   Oakland, CA

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