How YOU can help

Everybody can help save frogs!

It is easy to adjust your lifestyle to make a difference. Below are 12 fantastic ways you can help save our awesome amphibians:



Frogwatch website

1) Become a citizen scientist!! Many people think that you have to be a scientist or conservationist to help endangered or threatened animals. This is not true! Animals need help from everyone. In fact without the general public's help, many conservation efforts would not be possible. Sadly, there are a lot of amphibians that we lack population data for. The Association of Zoos and Aquariums has a frog watch program that always needs energetic volunteers. If there is not a frogwatch program in your area, you can start one yourself! Or check out the Gobal Amphbian Blitz project.

Global Amphibian Blitz project website



Long-toed Salamander. Photo credit: Gary Nafis

2) Become an amphibian advocate! Many people are not even aware amphibians are endangered or why they are important. There are many fun and informative amphibian outreach programs that need volunteers! For example, in Washington State, there is an annual Salamander Love Night, that encourages anyone and everyone to come out and see mole salamanders during breeding. Their are local scientists available to answer questions and explain how to find these amazing salamanders.







Save the frogs website


3) Help raise money for amphibian conservation! There are many conservation groups that work towards saving amphibians. The savethefrogs website is one place to start. Some other organizations involved include:

Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation

Amphibian Survival Alliance

Amphibian Specialist Group

Amphibian Ark

Conservation International




4) Get educated about amphibians!! There are lots of amazing websites and books that can help everyday citizens learn about amphibians and how to help them. Here are a few:

The Amphibian Project

Discovery education

National Geographic

Interactive amphibian education website

Free presentations on amphibians

Save the salamanders

Animal planet

Society for the study of amphibians and reptiles


5) If you have pet amphibians, make sure they are captive bred! Amphibians can make awesome pets, and there is a huge amount of resources for people interested in keeping frogs or salamanders as pets. If you want a pet amphibian, make sure that it is not one that is caught in the wild! If you get a wild caught amphibian, you are encouraging the overexploitation of the most endangered group of animals on the planet! There are lots of places that captive breed amphibians for pets, and if you get one from a pet store, make sure that they can prove it is not a wild caught animal! Once you have found a captive bred amphibians, read up on the requirements for proper housing and a feeding regime that will ensure your amphibian will stay healthy and live a good life. And make sure you never, ever release your amphibian into the wild!


6) Cut down your water and electricity use! There is relatively little freshwater on the planet. Everytime you take a really long shower or leave the water running while you brush your teeth, you are using precious freshwater resources. Amphibians need to keep freshwater in their habitats! The less water you use, the more amphibians can use! More tips on using less water.

The building of hydroelectric dams has had played a large impact on habitat degradation and fragmentation in amphibian habitats. If you use less electricity and advocate the same from other people, we can cut down our electricity use, so no more dams will be built. Turn off lights when you are not home, go for a hike instead of watching TV all day! More tips on saving electricity.




7) Recycle! Reuse! Buy less stuff! We have become major consumers and often times do not correlate environmental damage to the things we have in their homes. Industrial development to make all of our gadgets is on land that was once wild! Buy less stuff, need less stuff and help the world conserve the land that is not yet developed and restore the land we have disrupted.

Garbage dump. Photo credit: Texastakeback.org

Frog legs for dinner. Photo credit: the pilots bride

8) Don't eat frogs! I know this sounds obvious, but many people find frog legs (and salamanders) tasty. The collecting of frogs for food has led to severe population declines, like in the case of the Goliath Frog. The building of farms for edible frogs has impacted environments by building on land that other local amphibians could use. Amphibian farms also spread invasive amphibians and diseases to local habitats that can completely devastate local amphibian populations.

Photo credit: New tribe earth

9) Buy local organic food and products! Commercial agriculture has heavily degraded or destroyed many wetland habitats that amphibians need. The fertilizers and pesticides used by these farms, filters down into the dirt and into underground water that eventually feeds into freshwater systems. This pollutes freshwater and impedes the growth, development and reproductive success of many wild animals, including amphibians. Photo credit: Definitions on types of organic products.










10) Discourage land development! Live in an apartment. The housing needed for our growing population consistently pushes housing development into wild habitats for amphibians. Humans need to build up, not out and utilize the space that we already have developed instead of destroying more wildlife habitat!

Urban populations across the globe, photo credit: urban science

11) Drive less! The climate change we are currently witnessing is driven by our massive carbon emissions. Normally large amounts of carbon is stored in solid matter like trees and fossil fuels such as gasoline and oil. As we burn these solid forms, carbon is released into the atmosphere in its gaseous form, carbon dioxide. There has always been carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, in fact it is essential to maintain a liveable temperature on earth. If it wasn't for carbon and other gases in the atmosphere, the earth would be really, really cold. Carbon dioxide is called a greenhouse gas as it effectively blocks heat from escaping the earth, like a greenhouse keeps heat from escaping into the surrounding air. However, when there is too much carbon in the atmosphere, it traps more and more heat at the earths surface, essentially warming up the entire globe. This has enormous repercussions. Animals and ecosystems adapted to certain temperatures or moisture levels, die or relocate when temperatures rise because they are not physically able to survive in warmer temperatures. Vehicle emissions are a huge source of carbon dioxide emissions and the less cars we have on the road, the more we can cut down the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Photo credit: http://library.thinkquest.org/17456/climateall.html


12) Stop the spread of invasive species! Invasive species are often able to creep into environments inadvertently by humans. Below are some ways to help stop the spread of invasive species. Photo credit: Commonwealth of Virginia

• only plant local species in your gardens
• do not release any pets into the wild
• be careful of the fish bait you use (for example, tiger salamanders are often used as fish bait and can escape and invade new habitats).
• disinfect your shoes between hikes - the chytrid fungus is known to be spread through human shoes and clothes, be sure you are not moving it into new areas
• volunteer in local events that help remove invasive species
• educate your friends and family about the dangers and effects of invasive species
• east invasive species, recipes at: http://invasivore.org/