Carnage in Red Frogs

How many frogs does it take to satisfy this guzzler? In Beaumont-en-Argonne (08), on March 16^th 2018, a single search of a poacher's home was enough to discover nearly 5,000 common frogs (Rana temporaria), dead or alive, about to be devoured, frozen and / or sold under the counter. The inventory made by the environmental inspectors is shocking: 19 traps, 2 large pairs of scissors, 35 pots containing 70 pairs of legs, 32 kilos of amphibian eggs (officially intended to be returned to their natural environment ), 19 green frogs (Rana esculenta, officially caught in error) and 1679 live red frogs (“to be consumed much later”), as well as… 2954 others already amputated from their hind legs but who were still breathing!

Endless agony

Indeed, the owner of the premises, looking like a "peaceful pensioner", did not even bother to kill his victims before butchering them. To the investigators, he presented his technique as follows: “I take the frog. I knock them out and then use scissors to cut them up. Then, I hold them in a cloth and with a fork I prick them in the crotch to be able to remove their skin. Then I tie it up and cut the flaps of skin off with the scissors. "A master in this dreadful operation, often assisted by his wife, he thus managed to" prepare "100 frogs per hour ... And at the same time fill buckets and bags with the"waste", in this case mutilated animals, which often took several days before their last breath, after an abominable period of suffering.

Such a nice grandfather

If during his hearing on May 19^th, 2018, the man denied any commercial inclinations (when he had already admitted selling the frogs legs during the investigation), he confirmed his attachment to this "family" traditions. Besides, this is not the first time he has been fined for amphibian captures and it is therefore with full knowledge of the facts that he has continued his misdeeds so far. After learning to fish for common frogs with his father, he has poached them all his life, making fun of regulated hunting periods and favouring spawning periods when they run down streams to reach breeding areas. To capture them more reliably, he uses callers: "I catch 5 or 6 males, I place them in the traps, and the others catch themselves". Once the animals are trapped, make way for the big knives and crazy gustatory festivities for those who consider themselves as "nature lovers"! Regular guests, his sons refused to participate in the massacre but admitted that they sometimes accompanied their father during his hunts and that they regularly took from the refrigerator their catch to treat their wives and children. Ironically, one of them added that his father took care to do what was necessary for the preservation of the species by ensuring that the eggs were always put back in the water!

One Voice civil party

Immediately informed of this sinister affair, we have brought forward a civil action to defend the frogs, their vulnerability and their extreme sensitivity. We will be representing them this Wednesday September 25^th at the high court of Charleville-Mézières, during the trial of the poacher and his sons who have also been summoned. All three knowingly violated animal welfare rules, as well as those relating to the keeping of non-domestic species. We will fight to ensure that they will receive exemplary punishments and that they are unable to continue their slaughter any longer!