April 28th is Save The Frogs! Day

 Nearly one-third of the world's 6,300 species of amphibians are on the brink of extinction, part of the massive die-off of flora and fauna that is sweeping the planet. Threatened by pollutants, habitat loss, and invasive species, frogs in particular are now facing a new killer -- the chytrid fungus. 

One of the major vectors for the spread of chytridiomycosis is the trafficking each year of millions of amphibians around the planet. Much like "virgin-soil" populations of Native Americans who lacked immunity to European-born diseases and thus perished in epidemics of influenza, small pox, measles and tuberculosis, native amphibians have evolved no defenses against pathogens introduced by species trafficked from afar. According to Dr. Kerry Kriger, ecologist and founder of the nonprofit Save the Frogs, the largely unregulated food and pet trades -- together with the zoo and laboratory trades -- are the most likely culprit for the rapid spread of the fungus. Kriger and other leading herpetologists (scientists who study amphibians and reptiles), are urging strict controls on the international amphibian trade. 

Amphibians are the oldest land vertebrates. The earliest species emerged more than 300 million years ago. Their contributions to the rich diversity of life on Earth are innumerable. It is the responsibility of all of us to insure their protection and longevity. That begins with raising awareness of the problem. According to National Geographic photographer Joel Sartore, only one percent of us human beings are even aware of the unprecedented die-off of frogs and other amphibians. We need to spread the word. 

To educate yourself further, read the April 2009 National Geographic article, "The Vanishing," by Jennifer S. Holland, poignantly illustrated with Sartore's images. Some of the frogs Sartore photographed for the assignment were the very last of their species. Meanwhile, Kriger's organization is promoting the first annual Save the Frogs Day on April 28th. Students and educators are encouraged to participate in a number of suggested activities, including an art contest. For more information, please visit www.savethefrogs.com. 

A "Reputed" Dictator?

In their In the Loop on the Hill column in today's Washington Post, Mary Ann Akers and Paul Kane note that Illinois Congressman Jerry Weller is in a heap of trouble over his undisclosed financial holdings in Nicaragua. The columnists note the Congressman's marriage to the daughter of the former "reputed" dictator of Guatemala, Efrain Rios Montt. "Reputed" dictator? Not even Rios Montt himself would dispute the charge. In fact, in an interview with me and then-New York Times reporter Lindsey Gruson in Guatemala City in 1989, Rios Montt emphatically declared with a manic gleam in his eye: "Yes, it's true, yes! I was a dictator!" But if you don't believe him, just ask some of those who managed to survive the scores of massacres unleashed by his troops in the early 1980s on Guatemala's Indians in the western highlands, some of the most horrific atrocities ever perpetrated against indigneous populations in the history of the Americas.