Rapporteur: Ms Bandana Adhikari, EGH Coordinator
Amphibians are cold-blooded animals divided into three orders: Gymnophiona, Caudata, and Anura. All frogs and toads fall under Anura. The total number of recognized species has increased by over 60% since 1985. In Nepal, there are 53 species of amphibians (1 newt, 4 toads, 47 frogs, and 1 caecilian). Over 2,000 amphibian species are threatened with extinction i.e., one-third population and about 200 species have already been extinct since 1979. Amphibians play a significant role in the functioning of the ecosystem. Amphibian populations have suffered widespread declines and extinctions in recent decades. The amphibians of Nepal have been facing severe threats of extinction mainly due to rapid deforestation, soil and water pollution, land-use changes, habitat loss, unsustainable collection for food, medicine, and exploitation in the academic sector. However, the major driver of the decline is the lack of awareness in people about the importance of amphibians. So, every year on the last Saturday of April since 2008, the amphibian admirers in different parts of the world celebrate “Save The Frogs Day” with the primary aim to protect amphibians and encourage the public to respect nature and wildlife.
This year the 10th Annual Save The Frogs Day was marked in Nepal on 28th April at Indreni Food Land, New Baneshwor, Kathmandu, with the financial support from SAVE THE FROGS! USA, Resources Himalaya Foundation and Environmental Graduates in Himalaya (EGH). We picked the issue of frog dissection practice in biology labs across the country. The event had wider participation of college and university students, zoology teachers, conservationists, academics, and media persons. Mr. Biraj Shrestha, Research Officer at Resources Himalaya Foundation (RHF) and SAVE THE FROGS! volunteer was the event coordinator and supported by volunteers from EGH.
ACTIVITIES
The program started with a welcome note by Ms. Binita Pandey, Research Assistant at RHF, following a short video clip playing about amphibians' decline. After that, Mr. Biraj Shrestha, Research Officer at RHF gave keynote presentation on the topic titled “The Downside of Frogs Dissection”. He highlighted the importance of frogs, their role in the ecosystem and the decline of frogs due to several threats. He further stressed how dissection could cause a decline in frogs and condemned it futile. There are alternatives that could be scaled in Nepal to avoid killing frogs for anatomy teaching in biology classes.
During the interaction, Mr. Khubi Ram Adhikari, Deputy Director of the Curriculum Development Centre, assured that it’s high time to revamp the curriculum and apply the substitutes if possible. Mr. Rishi Shah, Academician of NAST, expressed his view about the frog’s day and its importance. He highlighted the need for collaboration among people and institutions to address such overlooked issues in conservation. Mr. Shailendra Pokharel, Executive Chief of CODEFUND, recalled his colleague Dr. Kaluram Rai's experience who'd collect an army of stream frogs, paha during his Ph.D. fieldwork days.
Ms. Shristi Singh Shrestha, Project Manager of The Jane Goodall Institute, expressed her sincerest support to end frogs abuse in the name of dissection. Ms. Shrestha who's been advocating relentlessly for animal welfare issues across the country released the dissection awareness poster "FROGS' Dissection is Futile! Stop Threatening Their Survival!"
Dr. Dinesh Raj Bhuju, General Secretary of RHF, delivered concluding remarks about the evolution of frogs, their role in the ecosystem, shortcomings of dissection while urged to adopt alternative measures to dissection on the grounds that modern education is misled by exploiting frogs in high school biology classes.
