Running on our local road with the dogs every morning helps me get a finger on the pulse of how we are feeling today.
For months after the shutdown, the road was near empty, with the few drivers cautiously giving us plenty of space, and a wave as well. As we go back to being in a hurry again, I keep a close eye out for vehicles. At least once each morning, it seems, to avoid being hit, the dogs and I do a quick dive onto the shoulder. It is the new normal, like the old normal, only I question it more now.
Questioning the old way of doing things may be the only gift the pandemic has given us.
Celebrations, large crowds, parades, fireworks, frog-jumping contests are all fair game for reevaluation. I have struggled with the last one on that list, wondering what sort of message it sends to our kids, having great fun at the discomfort of amphibians.
This is not, however, a simple issue. Several biologists have told me that handling amphibians as children helped spark an interest that led them to pursue a career in science. Some parents told me about the excitement their children experience capturing their special frog and caring for it in anticipation of the contest.
Some amphibians, like bullfrogs and green frogs, are abundant and common in Vermont. Others, like the boreal chorus frog and Fowler’s toad, are endangered species of great concern here. Overall, amphibian populations worldwide are declining.
My hope is that your town might reconsider this tradition, and if they do sponsor a frog-jumping contest, that the organizers include an educational portion about amphibians. Frogs should be treated kindly, carefully and returned to the pond from where they came.
Unfortunately, the technique often used for getting a frog to jump is to pound the ground while yelling or blowing at it to activate a fear response.
The dogs and I know something about fear response: We feel it every morning while jumping into the ditch.
Micki Colbeck, of Strafford, is an artist, a conservation biologist and a member of the Strafford Conservation Commission. Write to her at mjcolbeck@gmail.com.