Trade may see end of Indonesian frogs
Source: AFP |
March 4, 2013, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THOUGH diners in white table-clothed French brasseries may not know it, their frogs legs most likely come from the murky swamps of Indonesia, caught by hunters in the dead of the night to be slaughtered and sold at local markets.
Sri Mulyani, an Indonesian frog vendor, rips off the frog's skin, pulls out its innards with her bare hands and flings the amphibian onto a mountain of others that have suffered the same fate.
"If I feel disgusted and sick of frogs, I just think about the money," the smiling 41-year-old said at a market in Bogor, on the outskirts of the capital Jakarta.
Mulyani and her frog-hunter husband, Suwanto, 48, make up to 500,000 rupiah (US$52) a day - well above the local minimum wage of US$200 a month - chasing and selling frogs to restaurants or middlemen for export.
Devoured for their fleshy chicken-like taste, frogs legs are a known delicacy in France, Belgium and Luxembourg.
Indonesia has become the world's biggest exporter of frogs, providing over 80 percent of Europe's imports. But conservationists are concerned the lucrative trade may see the end to certain frog populations that help keep ecosystems healthy by preying on pests. Their tadpoles also help stabilise aquatic environments.
Much of the demand comes from France, where an estimated 80 million frogs are consumed every year. France was forced to place a ban on commercial frog hunting and farming in 1980.
"We fear that over the years the frog population, at least the large body of frogs in Indonesia, will collapse," said Sandra Altherr from German group Pro Wildlife, which co-authored a report on the frog trade last year.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
