Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Over 50 mature American bullfrogs released into Bishan Park

I went for my morning walk at Bishan Park yesterday and when I got to the Lotus Garden, I heard a call of an American bullfrog then another and another. It appeared that someone released bullfrogs into the pond. Upon going around the pond it became apparent how many frogs were released - over 50. There were frogs sitting on rocks, under rocks, on the grass verge, and in the water.
I walked back to my car and grabbed the camera. One of the regulars at the park had said that there were many bullfrogs over at the lotus pond at Ang Mo Kio Town West Garden but I never made it a priority to photograph the frogs till now.

I ended up spending close to an hour photographing various frogs in and around the pond to bring to you a nice bullfrog photo collection. The next thing I did was to notify NParks as American bullfrogs are an invasive species, these frogs were mature ones and they could start laying eggs soon. The frogs that some irresponsible person released could do a lot of damage to our environment. Our local wildlife will end-up being swallowed whole by these frogs. Bullfrogs eat anything they can fit in their ample mouths, including birds, insects, fish, snakes and mice.
I went back this morning, the frogs were still in and around the pond but some have spread out into other areas of the park as I heard some calling from a drain near the children's water play area.
This one was shot with my iPhone this morning. It was ready for a fight with me.

3 comments:

PaulRW said...

It is an extremely irresponsible act to release these into Singapore Waters. There should be someone in authority who can authorize the removal urgently using public volunteers if necessary. Their effects on the local fauna will be similar to that of the Cane Toad in Australia which are now out of control.

Shirls said...

Hi Paul- common problem here in Singapore. The bullfrogs are just the tip of the invasive species iceberg.
As of 30 Oct, a majority of the bullfrogs have been removed. There's probably about 10 that still need to be caught.

Anonymous said...

Not a problem. Our garment release many foreign humans to our habitat too wad?