Frog diseases spreading in the UK, please report possible outbreaks
31/07/2008 09:05:56
Frog killed by Rana Virus. Credit Amanda Duffus/ZSL
Another good reason to ban animal imports to the UK.
July 2008. Amphibians in the UK are being affected by two significant diseases, ranavirus and the chytrid fungus. Ranavirus kills thousands of frogs, toads and newts in the UK each year and the chytrid fungus, implicated in extinctions of amphibian species around the world, has recently been identified in the UK.
Scientists remain unsure of the extent to which amphibian populations are being affected and what the implications for the UK's frogs, toads and newts may be. Dr Andrew Cunningham, senior ZSL scientist, commented, "Amphibians are being devastated by disease on a global scale but we have only an extremely limited picture of what is going on in our own backyard. Reports of outbreaks across the UK are absolutely vital for ZSL's continuing research and, in the long term, to ensure the survival of our extraordinary amphibians."
Report sick and dead frogs, toads and newts
The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and Froglife are calling for the public to look out for and report cases of sick and dead frogs - and other amphibians like toads and newts - in an attempt to expand vital research into the state of the nation's amphibians. "There is a whole range of reasons why dead amphibians turn up in gardens and many of these are completely normal events. However, during the humid summer months we hear numerous reports of unusual frog deaths in gardens." said Daniel Piec, Froglife's Head of Conservation. "We are appealing to the public for information on new cases so that we can paint a better picture of the damage these amphibian diseases are inflicting."
Harmless to humans
Both diseases are harmless to humans, but in amphibians result in a variety of symptoms that could include lethargy, thinness or unexplained mass-deaths of adults or juvenile amphibians. Internal bleeding and open skin sores have also been reported. Members of the public who have come across unusual amphibian deaths in their gardens are urged to submit their information on the Froglife website: www.froglife.org. This information will then be used by ZSL in its research on diseases affecting UK amphibians.
Read the comments about this article and leave your own comment
In 2010 I found five dead frogs in my tiny pond in N Hampshire but luckily none so far this year.
What does puzzle me is how both spawn and tadpoles can disappear in a short time despite no fish present and the pond being covered in wire mesh, which rules out birds. I presume it's either disease or cannibalism by newts or adult frogs.
Posted by: Angus Kirk | 24 Mar 2011 16:18:08
The same advice holds for most species. The best way to dispose of a carcass (especially when an infectious disease is suspected) is by burning it. Next best is burying it.
Putting it in the bin results in the movement of the carcass and risks moving the infection to a new site.
Posted by: Stephen Price | 23 Mar 2011 23:35:57
The best thing you can do is follow this link:
www.froglife.org/disease/report.htm
and fill out the questionnaire as fully as possible.
The Froglife website also has plenty of info about ranavirus and chytrid.
If you have freshly dead carcasses and suspect ranavirus, please get in touch with Froglife asap.
Posted by: Stephen Price | 23 Mar 2011 23:25:29
I have a small pond which the frogs love and stay all year round, this year I have lost 38 frogs, all were very bloated but no obvious sores etc. I have emptied and cleaned the pond out, and have now only 3 live frogs left.
Posted by: Jill Thumwood | 13 Feb 2011 21:43:55
I have a tiny pond in my long, narrow London garden but there are usually plenty of frogs in it. The cats chase them and catch them but this year I have found four that are definitely not cat victims. They are extremely bloated - look like little blown-up balloons.
Posted by: Barty Phillips | 26 Jan 2011 17:14:07
16th jan 2011 today my mother found 39 dead frogs on her pond.does any organisation need this imformation?what is the best thing to do?How does she dispose of them in order to prevent any diseases spreading?What caused this mass death?
Posted by: steve ashbrooke | 17 Jan 2011 15:23:34
We hgave found a number of frogs dead with red markings on their underside in our pond in Suffolk
Posted by: \hugh Madle | 15 Jan 2011 16:20:19
I live in Mid Wales and I found three dead frogs floating on the surface of my garden pond yesterday. They were all a blue/grey colour and I assumed that they had frozen to death?
Posted by: Roger Whitehouse | 13 Jan 2011 21:07:21
I found over 30 dead forgs in my bosses pool
they were all ages why is this it was so sad to hook them out they come every year to spaun.
Posted by: Tanya Linke | 12 Jan 2011 15:00:10
I live in West Devon and have a pond of about 1100 gallons stocked with a mixture of fish and common pond vegetation. Within the last month we have found 8 dead frogs in the garden around the pond. They all appeared to be mature frogs with no obvious signs of the cause of their death although we surmised it was some sort of illness amongst the frog population. Last year we only fopund a couple of bodies which we put put down to the end of thei natural life cycle.
Posted by: Alan Burfitt | 19 Sep 2010 13:32:41
We have taken 4 dead frogs out our little pond this weekend and have found at least that number dead around the garden.
We are very concerned
Posted by: Ann Masters | 25 Jul 2010 20:32:13
What's happening? I've pulled 7 dead froggies from my pond in 5 days. The pond is a well filtered 2000 gallon one, and I've been so pleased that as well as the fish (mix of koi, goldies, tench, and VERY successfully breeding rudd!) there are dragon flies, pond skaters etc though sadly no newts. Now more frogs than I realised were in there are dead. They have no signs of injury, a couple of them had open mouths with kind of a white jelly-like stuff in them. Other creatures are fine. Any ideas about how to reduce my glut of rudd????
Posted by: Caroline Sarson | 13 Jul 2010 09:52:35
We have a small garden pond in N Oxon. Recently we've had a few ALMOST dead frogs, apparently from Ranavirus, but as I make to dispose of them ,they move! Ever so slightly.They are clearly unwell.Any suggestions as to what should be done? This year we have upwards of fifty apparently healthy mature tadpoles and froglets as well as some healthy fogs.I presume that they are at risk?
Posted by: Ian Eves | 07 Jul 2010 16:07:55
I have a very lethargic frog in my pond (in Brighton) which has been like this for around a month. Sounds very like the one reported by Carol Stevens. No obvious skin lesions but it hardly moves and is clearly very sick. If this is an infection what should I do? No luck with the arc website. I tried to "notify" the relevant people but their online form doesn't work!
Basically - should I leave it in the pond to die if it's infectious? I can't bring myself to kill it or throw it in the dustbin!
Posted by: Liz Robinson | 17 Jun 2010 13:39:29
I have found at least 8 dead frogs in my pond in the last 14 days. A similar event occurred 10 years ago, when I lost at least 20 plus frogs in a very short time.However, I have always had tadpoles in the pond, as I have at present. These look very healthy!!
Posted by: D RICHER | 18 May 2010 20:18:36
I am finding a lot of dead and dying frogs in my pond this year. None of the spawn has survived either, is there anything I can do to stop them suffering?
Posted by: joan twine | 21 Apr 2010 16:45:37
I found a bloated frog in my garden today. When I went close to it it didn't move even when I touched it. It was quite close to the pond and after about 30mins it moved into the plants at the edge of the pond and then didn't move much. It seemed to be quite dark coloured compared with most of the frogs in my garden. At one point I was moving some dead stems and caught the frog and it tipped over onto it's back. I thought it was dead but I turned it back over and it was still alive later it moved to the pond. I have some spawn in the pond but it was laid in a ditch which dries out so I moved it to the pond several days ago, should I have left it where it was?
Posted by: Carol Stevens | 09 Apr 2010 22:15:39
After the very severe weather of winter, when i lost so many frogs 24final count, I now have loads of frogs and frog spawn, in both my ponds, I am very pleased to say .!!! I think all those frogs died of ranaviris. as several had red legs and underbelly. it was very upsetting at the time . I thought this would give hope to all others who had a problem. check you ponds now that spring is here and you could get a nice surprise too
Posted by: Bella | 27 Mar 2010 15:59:36
i lost 6 frogs in the extreme weather in Dec/Jan and assumed they froze they were bloated, however I had a new visitor plopping about last week and to my horror I have just found him dead. I dug out two small ponds, and converted to a slightly larger one late last year, pond liner from Band Q stones from existing pond Pepples and gravel for shelf for wildlife eg hedgehogs, no fish ever water clear and plants regenerating. should I have the water tested I feel awful and wonder if I should fill it in.advice welcome
Posted by: lynn wilson | 25 Mar 2010 18:44:18
I found two dead frogs in my pond this afternoon. One looked exactly like the photogragh on your web page, the other was
extremely bloated and parts of its front feet were missing. It may be that the disease had reached staffordshire. I have not
purchased any goldfish for some years.
Posted by: ian bearne | 16 Mar 2010 19:00:22
I am still getting dead frogs floating on my pond. I hope this dosnt mean that there wont be any spawn this year. I live in Oxfordshire countryside so hope there will be some that survive in this area
Posted by: Bella | 15 Feb 2010 21:25:46
Just like Bella, I went to my pond last week and found loads of frogs, bloated, floating at or just below the surface of the water. This morning I pulled out between 12 and 15 large and bloated frogs. This is probably the whole contingent for my garden and, I suppose, means there will not be any mating this year.
Posted by: David Matthews | 09 Feb 2010 20:44:11
we have had a very severe icey period and my pond froze over, because i couldnt get down the garden because of hip opperation i was unable to get to make holes in the ice. however when i could get to pond there were a lot of dead frogs large and small. some had red under there tummy areas. would they have died from being fozen in pond or a desease do you think there have been 16 in all. all my fish suvived but i am very upset about the frogs i have had pond for years and this has never happened before.
Posted by: Bella | 03 Feb 2010 18:59:13
The best thing that you can do is get in touch with the above. Vist their website at
www.arc-trust.org/
They'll advise on what you can do.
Posted by: Stephen Price | 23 Nov 2009 11:22:46
We live in West Sussex and have found several frogs recently in and around our pond that appear to have died of Ranavirus. There are red patches on their body suggesting internal bleeding. Is there anything we can do to save them or prevent it from spreading?
Valerie King
Posted by: Valerie King | 06 Oct 2009 15:31:26
i have a small pond in my garden in north devon which for many years has been home to healthy frogs. in the last few months however several of the frogs have appeared to go into a state of suspended animation and then died. i watched one yesterday in what looked a distressed state and didn't know how to help. there is a mass of healthy looking tadpoles swimming happily around; will they succumb? the ill frog appears to have a filmy discharge. please help me save them.
Posted by: judith bowden | 02 May 2009 12:59:51
I am finding dead or dying frogs daily (probably 50 in the last month). A small amount of spawn has been laid and some hatched will these baby frogs die too?
Posted by: | 20 Mar 2009 17:03:08