American charity uses art to save amphibians

It's going to take more than a kiss to change these frogs to royalty. But these days, they need the attention from a celebrity status, and SAVE THE FROGS! is shining the spotlight right on them — and for important reasons.

SAVE THE FROGS! is the first and only American public charity dedicated exclusively to amphibian conservation. A team of dedicated and passionate scientists, educators, policymakers, and naturalists who want to save not only frogs, but also their whole family of toads, newts, salamanders and caecilians, drives this organization. The founder and executive director of the foundation, Dr. Kerry Kriger, spoke to The Ticker about where his motivation stems from.

He drew from his personal experiences from when he had studied for his PhD in Australia, where he learned that many amphibians were endangered and that something had to be done about their situation. At the time, little was being done in the U.S. to help the little critters. Dr. Kriger said, "Scientists publish papers that recommend actions needing to be taken to save endangered species — and I also realized that few people were implementing the action steps." So he took the first move of tackling this issue. Thus came the foundation of the organization.

But it's not necessary for supporters to go study chytridiomycosis, an amphibian disease that put to rest whole species of amphibians (approximately 100) as Dr. Kriger did to help out for this cause. SAVE THE FROGS! is holding its annual art contest that runs until October 15, to raise awareness and to generate funds to keep the frogs alive.

What's more is that it can be a fun project for anyone. The concept is simple: create your coolest frog artwork and send it in. The contest is open to anyone, anywhere. As long as you can somehow draw or create, you're all set. It's absolutely free to enter, and you could even win cash prizes. There are 4 category winners, classified by age ranges, and one grand prize winner. All of the winners, whether category winners or the grand prize winner, may get their artwork featured on the goods that they sell online.

Last year's winner, Kaitlyn Hunter, had her design printed onto the T-shirts that they have for sale on their website, www.savethefrogs.com/art. The organization holds this contest as a way to engage people, in particular teachers and students to have an interest in amphibians.

It's important now more than ever for the frogs and other amphibian populations worldwide because their numbers are decreasing rapidly, and at unprecedented rates. Nearly one-third of the world's 6,500 amphibian species are endangered, and as many as 200 species of frogs are no longer existent on our world today. They play an important role in the food chain and in ecology in general. Even in the midst of mass extinction, no one knows about it. And if you don't know, you can't care.

This is no fairytale, but a nightmarish reality for these animals. SAVE THE FROGS! gives us the opportunity to do something about amphibian extinction, and simply spreading the word about it makes a huge difference as well.

Dr. Kriger said, "it's not too late to save the frogs if everyone takes a pro-active stance in fighting for their continued survival." Even the little steps that you take for them, like not releasing your pet frog back in the wild unless it's into their natural habitat, or avoiding eating frog legs, do more for them than any fairytale kiss.

You can check out all 51 of the ways that you can help by visiting their website at www.savethefrogs.com.