A frog blog for World Wildlife Day.
World Wildlife Day this week highlighted the desperate situation faced by many wild creatures around the world. It’s a good reason to look at a native species that few New Zealanders will have ever seen and some work being done to save it from extinction.
Hochstetter’s frog is one of our four native frogs, which all belong to a unique and ancient family. Sadly another three native frogs have become extinct since the arrival of humans.
It’s no wonder so few people have seen Hochstetter’s frogs. They are shy, nocturnal, and generally silent but unlike our other three natives, semi-aquatic and found near forest-shaded streams. Only around 10 isolated populations of Hochstetter’s frogs remain in the upper half of the North Island, so it is vital we protect them.
Our Te Puke branch in the Bay of Plenty and Central North Island Regional Conservation and Volunteer Manager Al Fleming have been doing just that.
They’ve been working for years trying to save a remnant population threatened by a stone quarry on conservation land near Te Puke. The operations of the quarry and repeated breaches of conditions aimed at protecting the frogs meant the outlook was bleak.
The quarry operator had no sympathy for efforts to protect the frogs. On one occasion when Al went to check on a slip on a quarry access road that had silted the stream where the frogs live, the operator let one of his tyres down, even though Al was entitled to be on public land.
The good news is the mine has since closed and the mining licence has been revoked. But as often seems to happen with old mines, the public has been left to clean up the mess and restore the site.
The Department of Conservation and our Te Puke branch recently held a working bee at the mine site as part of efforts to revegetate the area. So things are looking up for these frogs but a lot of work is going to be needed to ensure no more of our native frogs become extinct.
