Eradicating Bullfrogs

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Bullfrogs are known for disturbing local ecosystems. The invasive species is even known to have made landfall on various islands, threatening their ecosystems as well. Here’s more on the efforts to remove bullfrogs from various places.

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Yooboodo Island is a world renowned sanctuary for migratory birds as 200-thousand birds visit each year. A net is cast into a pond and some 30 bullfrog tadpoles are caught in an instant. Workers swing the net in the water and bullfrogs as large as a grownup's forearm and baby tadpoles are caught in droves.

[Soundbite] Kim Jeong-won(Local Resident) : "Sensitive people can't sleep at night. (Because of the noise?)Yes. It's bad. The frogs croaking."

It's highly unusual to spot bullfrogs on an island six kilometers from the mainland. Yooboodo Island is a designated wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention. Observing the threat to the island's ecosystem, environment authorities have set out to eradicate the frogs. In just half a day, ten bullfrogs and 12-hundred tadpoles have been captured.

[Soundbite] Kim Yun-seob(Guem River Basin Environmental Office) : "The frogs are very predatory and prey on any living organism. They must be dealt with urgently."

Authorities will continue the operation until bullfrogs completely disappear from the island.