I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like frogs.

As Kerry Kriger passed through the Northern Rockies last week, as part of a larger barnstorm across the Western United States, the amphibian biologist made a special stop at the rural field office of Wildlife Art Journal, located deep in the Tobacco Root Mountains of Montana.  

Kriger's enthusiasm is infectious. The youthful founder of Save the Frogs , a new global effort to slow the loss of frogs and other amphibian species around the world, wanted us to help send a message out to wildlife artists.

If you are a visual artist who paints or draws frogs (or has an interest in doing so), Kriger would like to hear from you.  Savethefrogs.com is in the initial stages of putting together a book, the sales from which will be used to build public awareness about the plight of frogs.  He doesn't need many images, just good ones. He values the role that wildlife artists play in educating and inspiring those around us. He is hoping to create a major splash for frogs in time for international Save The Frogs Day on April 30, 2010.  He invites other conservation organizations, wherever you are, to join in.

Frogs have been hit hard by habitat destruction, the drying effects of climate change, exposure to toxic chemical pollution in the environment, and the spread of exotic diseases caused by non-native fauna being brought into countries and then turned loose.  More than 150 species have gone extinct in the last few decades.  And, of the approximately 6,400 species of amphibians documented by scientists, fully one-third is threatened with extinction.  Frogs are barometers, Kriger says, of ecological change that affects the lives of humans, too.  Plus, they eat the mosquitoes  and biting flies that like to feast on us.

Kriger, an American, earned his PhD from Griffith University in Gold Coast, Australia and has published 15 journal articles on the disease chytridiomycosis which has wreaked havoc with frog populations. He has received funding to study threats to amphibians from the National Geographic Society and other organizations.  Moreover, he has assembled an international advisory panel of conservation biologists.  Not only does he want to hear from you, but he wants kids to help spread the word.  “Frogs are the most threatened group of animals on the planet,” he says. “It is my desire to have wildlife artists help elevate their profile.”  You can contact Kriger via email at: kerry@savethefrogs.com