Not Everyone Likes American Bullfrogs

As I peruse the Internet in an effort to broaden my knowledge of the American Bullfrog I find that not everyone thinks they are such great creatures. In fact, some folks just down right hate 'em.

I currently don't feel that way but I've only had Joe visiting. I might have a different attitude if Joe had eaten my pet snake or killed the koi in my pond (actually I don't have any koi but if I did I would be pissed something killed them).

The native habitat of the bullfrog is from the rockies to the east coast and from Ontario down to central Florida (as best as I can determine). That was in the old days. In these here new days you will find the bullfrog shoot'n for world domination... kinda. They are common in Arizona, New Mexico, California and points north into Canada and south into Mexico. They can be found in Hawaii, the Caribbean, South America, Europe and Asia.

The complaint about the Joe type frogs is their appetite in conjunction with their ability to sate subject appetite. To further exacerbate the "invasion" concern, is the lack of predators.

Of course their population explosion isn't a natural thing. People have imported these guys for reasons that range from logical to absurd. People thought the bullfrog would take care of pests. People wanted to have fresh frog legs available. People wanted their pet frogs to be free like mother nature intended. Yea, right.

So now the bullfrog is eating frogs, snakes, birds, tadpoles and any other creature they can get into their mouth. They are blamed for making some species of frogs endangered. They are changing environments where they have been imported.

In addition the bullfrog seems to be a bit smarter than the average amphibian.  For instance, if people try to poison the pond where the bullfrogs are living, in most cases they just leave the pond and move on. It's said they will travel to new ponds or die trying. I say they will travel to new ponds or dry trying.

The bullfrog isn't the first creature man has imported that caused more harm than good.  Right off the top of my head I recall the zebra mussel.  Rabbits were imported to Australia.  The snake-head fish brought to the US from China.  Even koi are considered invasive in Maine.  The "Old World Sparrow," which is really a finch, was brought to the US from Europe.  Depending on how you look at it most people living in the US are "imported" too.  Didn't the first Europeans bring disease that the Native Americans had no anti-bodies thus causing death...  I think that's right.

It seems to me there is a lot of creature hate going around.  I think once the horse is out of the barn it isn't going to do much good to shut the barn door.  Yep, the creatures do what ever they do.  Man tries to undo the error in our ways.  It is pretty much a hopeless battle.  I don't know if it's worth fighting... just don't know.  Possibly Mother Nature could fix it but she works way too slow for us humans.

In the mean time the mussels are clogging our waterways.  The rabbits are still mating in Australia.  The snake-head fish is still cleaning out other species in US lakes and rivers they inhabit.  The koi are destroying habitat in Maine and the sparrows are killing blue birds.  The American Natives are still fighting to recoup their loses when Europeans were imported.  And Joe... Joe and her brothers and sisters around the world are eating and mating and moving on.