Friday, June 8, 2012

Pre-monsoon Showers.. A treat for the leapers

The monsoons are on their way and the pre-monsoon showers have paved their path.
The beginning of rains is always a treat. For people and for all sorts of life as well. But the ones who are most excited are the frogs. The croaking and leaping starts as soon as the first showers touch the earth.

This time, I saw various species of frogs come out at the first sigh of rains. There were fungoid frogs, cricket frogs, leaping frogs and most importantly, the huge bull frogs. They were nicely hopping around on the roads. It was a pleasure watching them. But it lasted only till I saw the first one get crushed. And then, there was the series.

Then I started thinking that if just in front of me, in a short time of five minutes, so many are crushed, what will be the number in the entire state? Or country for that matter..

Then another thought came to my mind looking at the freely roaming giant bull frogs on the road.
'Jumping chicken' season has started. For those of you who don't know whats jumping chicken, let me tell you.
Its a delicacy in Goa. Any guesses what it is? Ya.. You are right. Frog meat.
Bull frogs are poached extensively for their meat despite of the ban.

Many organisations, individuals and the forest department are working to tackle this issue. But people's participation is most important.

Frogs are very beautiful, harmless (in fact useful as they keep the pest population in check) and important in the ecosystem. Their presence indicates a healthy ecosystem.

If you like consuming frog meat, please reconsider your decision. And not to mention, its not permitted by the law.
The thing you can do very easily these days is drive carefully. Frogs come out during night and are often crushed by speeding vehicles during crossing the road. During the day time, same happens to snakes. Just today, I saved a buff striped keel-back from getting crushed.

So please, Drive Responsibly!
That's the least we can do.

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