07-30-2004, 03:44 PM
http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_2385478
Frog imports worry state wildlife officers
By Brett Prettyman
The Salt Lake Tribune
This American bullfrog was caught by an angler at Stansbury Lake in Tooele County this summer. It has a mouthful of Sumo frog, a fishing lure. (Brett Prettyman/The Salt Lake Tribune)
Tadpoles might seem like the perfect addition to that backyard pond or neighborhood fishing hole. But Utah law is clear when it comes to importing, transporting or possessing live frogs and toads: Don't.
State wildlife officers, hoping to prevent the spread of non-native American bullfrogs, are trying to track down anyone who purchased the illegal amphibian tadpoles from private individuals and public nurseries in northern Utah this summer.
The voracious bullfrogs are cannibalistic and could endanger Utah's native amphibious species.
"I can kind of see why people like tadpoles. It would be neat for the kids to watch them metamorphose from tadpoles to frogs, but they do it without considering the consequences," said Carmen Bailey, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) native aquatic species biologist.
"We don't need bullfrogs in this state and we would like to get rid of them," said DWR conservation officer John Pratt. "We recognize we probably can't eliminate them, but we certainly can try to contain them and stop them from spreading."
American bullfrogs come from the eastern United States, can grow up to 8 inches and "will eat anything they can get their mouth around. Things like ducklings and fish and native frogs," Bailey said.
Utah has eight native species of frogs and toads, all substantially smaller than the bullfrog. Possessing or moving those animals is illegal without a permit. The state has spent more than $1 million to restore native Columbian spotted frogs in areas across Utah. If bullfrogs were released in those areas, the projects could fail.
"They just don't eat them outright, they also out-compete them as tadpoles," Bailey said.
Bullfrogs have been in Utah since the 1930s, when they were imported for food-farming. People have been illegally moving
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------------------------------------------------------------------------ the bullfrogs between lakes, springs and ponds in northern Utah ever since, but the issue took a new turn this spring when a woman in Tremonton advertised tadpoles for purchase on the Internet.
"We advised her you can't possess live frogs and you definitely cannot commercially sell them," Pratt said.
The woman, who had collected the tadpoles from a pond near Brigham City, tried to provide the officers with a list of her customers.
She also informed them that several nurseries in northern Utah were selling tadpoles for use in backyard ponds.
"They were selling them like water lilies and koi," Pratt said.
Officials found the tadpoles at Valley Nursery in Ogden and were disappointed to learn that more than 900 bullfrog tadpoles shipped in from North Carolina had been sold to more than 200 people. Those buyers were from Summit, Morgan, Cache, Box Elder, Weber and Davis counties, as well as southern Idaho. The division is in the process of mailing out letters to those people.
Calls to the nursery were not immediately returned.
Pratt says no charges have been or will be filed in the bullfrog case, but he encourages people who may have purchased tadpoles to collect the animals and bring them to the closest DWR office.
bpretty@sltrib.com
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