Europeans’ fascination with frog legs risks harming species. This is what over 550 veterinarians, researchers and conservationists write in a letter to French President Emmanuel Macron, reports Sky News.
What the researchers warn about is the overexploitation of frogs. The EU imports more than 4,000 tonnes of frozen frog legs every year, which corresponds to between 80 and 200 million amphibians. Many come from Indonesia, Vietnam, Turkey and Albania, where frog populations are already declining.
“France has a special responsibility”
The frog populations in Europe are protected under EU legislation, which means that they import from other countries, even if it threatens the frog populations there, say the researchers.
Environmental activist Robin des Bois writes in the letter that 3,000 tons of frogs are imported into France every year. Now it is up to the country’s president to act, they say.
“We see that France has a special responsibility to take the lead in this matter,” the researchers write in the letter to Macron.