Tomorrow is the big day – the frogs will be leaving Montserrat for their journey across the Atlantic to the UK and Jersey. Exporting animals is not as easy as just putting them in a box and boarding them on a plane – there is a huge amount of paperwork and with three flights involved getting them from Montserrat to Jersey and London, it is important that everything is exactly correct or there could be hold ups which could be very dangerous for the frogs.
Having 26 frogs in captivity adds an extra dimension to the work here but it is a great feeling to have them safely tucked away in our transit facility. We had left them overnight to settle in undisturbed and this morning we weighed them all and allocated them numbers according to the identification record of Gerardo’s photos taken in the field – these frogs all have distinct and unique markings and it was decided to rely on this method rather than microchipping at this stage so as to cause them as little stress as possible with a long journey ahead of them. From now on we will minimise contact with the frogs to limit disturbance and to prepare them for a peaceful transfer from Montserrat.
Another morning of computer work, discussions and planning and a visit from one of our guides, Mapai – a real character who is always ready for a beer or two never mind what time of day or what he has planned! Full of chat and jokes, he cares passionately about the wildlife of this island. He was happy to join us for lunch although as a hunter and big meat eater, he was a little suspicious of the vegetarian food in front of him!
This morning was devoted to meetings with the Montserrat stakeholders to finally agree the exact plan for taking the frogs from the wild tonight and their export to Durrell and our partners. The logistics are not easy to organise as of course first of all the frogs have to fly out to Antigua and then from there to London. We want to make their trip as smooth and safe as possible so we are using all the connections we have to ensure a swift transit through Antigua. See more photos of the capture here.
Tomorrow is the big day – we are going to out Fairy Walk to catch frogs for transport back to Jersey. Scriber came over to the house to discuss the practicalities of getting the frogs out – catching the frogs is one thing but carrying them out safely and carefully without stressing them too much is another! These frogs can easily weigh 1/2 kg each and have very powerful legs and could easily injure themselves inside boxes or bags. So the frogs will receive very special treatment.
Checking the moth trap first thing, Gerardo found only a few moths – that would not even begin to feed the frogs we are planning to capture but it was a windy night so he was not surprised and he is still confident that we will be able to catch all that is needed - and if necessary we will have to go into the forest to catch more. At least we know that the trap does work – all we need is the weather in our favour. We then headed down to the transit facility to make a final list of what we needed to make the treatment pools for the animals we are taking into captivity. Worried now that we were taking in infected animals we had decided to make 3 more temporary ponds to treat animals. Feeling positive that we knew which stores stock which materials – we set out confidently with our list, which contained a strange assortment of items including dog collars! We almost got it all, but a closed store denied us of the electrical cabling we need. Oh well….
Bad news! Two of the samples which had been sent off for analysis from the last trip that Gerardo and Javier made, have come back testing positive for chytrid – but this time from animals in what was thought to be a relatively safer place – Fairy Walk and Corbet Spring. This site is much more removed from the others and so we were hoping that we would have a little time to get animals out of there before chytrid hit.
One of the harsh realities of life out here is that we still need to go to the supermarket! Finding all the usual things we have at home can be difficult and we have to accept what is available and learn that fresh fruit and vegetables are only available on certain days and as for anything else you are looking for, just improvise – this is after all an island and of course, any island has a logistical problem when it comes to bringing in supplies.
The final part of our work for the ponds in the transit facility was to fix the nets which allow the frogs to jump without damaging themselves or escaping – ingenuity, hard work and team work again resulted in a successful morning’s work. This facility is really beginning to look like a captive breeding centre (??).
In the evening, we made another visit to Pelican accompanied by one of the Montserratian team Calvin ‘Blacka’ Fenton. This resulted in the re-capture of several frogs from previous visits together with just a few new live animals to record but sadly also more dead ones.
We arrived at the transit facility this morning to see Tommy the carpenter already hard at work and the sight of all the transport boxes stacked up and ready to go was really encouraging.
Fired up by this and armed with brushes and washing up liquid we began the task of scrubbing out the temporary ponds – not an easy task as the liner is so strong and heavy but between us we worked out a good system and by lunchtime all the ponds had been scrubbed clean.
