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Deformed frogs found in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Preserved frogs from 16 ponds near Swanson River oil field being sent to USGS health lab for examination by researchers by The Associated Press
Alaska has joined a nationwide study of abnormal amphibians now that 26 deformed wood frogs were found in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge.
Most of the abnormal frogs had leg deformities, but one was missing its eyes, and another had an unusually bulging eye, said biological technician Heidi Tangermann.
It’s the largest number of frog abnormalities ever reported in the state.
The preserved bodies of the frogs collected last month from 16 ponds near the Swanson River oil field will be sent to the U.S. Geological Survey Madison Health Lab in Wisconsin so researchers can examine them.
Over the last five years, a growing number of deformed frogs and toads, as well as a decline in frog populations, have concerned scientists worldwide. But before now, no more than a handful of deformed frogs had been reported in Alaska.
The concern is that amphibians, which are sensitive to their environment, could be responding to problems that could eventually harm people, like contamination or increased ultraviolet radiation from the sun. One percent thought to be normal deformed rate In a normal frog population, it’s thought only 1 percent will be deformed. But in three of the ponds studied here, the deformity rate was significantly higher, Trust said. In one pond, the rate was 16.9 percent. Of all the frogs examined, more than 6 percent had problems.
At least some of the frogs will probably be found to have lost limbs to such everyday dangers as fish, water bugs or voracious dragonfly larvae, said Kim Trust, environmental contaminant specialist with the Fish and Wildlife Service in Anchorage.
Ted Bailey, supervisory wildlife biologist at the refuge, has been studying wood frogs there for nearly 10 years, ever since worries first arose about a decline in amphibians worldwide.
He is reserving judgment until more information comes back from the lab.
“We’ll just have to wait and see what the final verdict is about the cause of these deformities,” Bailey said.
The first results should be in by January.
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