Top: Courtesy of Thomas Strömberg; Bottom: Courtesy of David J. Jefferies
Any time animals are brought together in unnatural densities, it raises the potential for disease disaster. Bullfrogs, mass farmed in South America, are shipped to the United States without disease inspection. Their discarded skins might spread amphibian fungal plagues. Outbreaks of House Finch conjunctivitis and salmonellosis in song birds have spread in the US over the past 15 years helped along by the popularity of bird feeders.
A dozen bullfrogs slump together in a dark green mass at the bottom of a plastic bucket, looking more dead than alive. Some have blotchy skin and none has strength left to move. They have traveled thousands of miles to await their fate in back of a New York China-town market. A species native to North America, these frogs are raised by the tens of thousands on South American farms. Bullfrogs, ...
