Sir David leaps into action for frogs
Friday 21 December 2007
Sir David Attenborough puts the finishing touches to a new frog sculpture at ZSL London Zoo in anticipation of the 2008 Year of the Frog.
© ZSL
Sir David, patron of the 2008 Year of the Frog campaign, completed the sculpture by applying the final coat to the frog, which is made of entirely recycled materials.
The global 2008 Year of the Frog campaign begins on January 1st to highlight the plight of amphibians. Many species are facing extinction in the wild due to disease, habitat loss, climate change, pollution and pesticides, introduced species and over-collection for food and pets.
To try and avert the crisis, some of the world’s leading conservationists have joined together in Amphibian Ark to name 2008 The Year of the Frog in hopes of raising both awareness and the critical funding needed to address the crisis.
Conservationists at the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) will be taking part in the campaign by carrying out vital research into amphibian declines which will be used to inform both captive breeding programmes and amphibian conservation projects in the field.
Sir David commented: “Without an immediate and sustained conservation effort to support captive management, hundreds of species of these wonderful creatures could become extinct in our own lifetime.”
Click on the video below to see Sir David Attenborough talking about Amphibian Ark and the global amphibian crisis.
