Couple’s $100k donation to bring the vulnerable Southern Bell Frog back to the Lower Murray
A SOUTH Australian couple have pledged a staggering amount of money to help save a vulnerable frog population in the Lower Murray.
THE vulnerable southern bell frog population would receive a much-needed boost in the Lower Murray thanks to a couple’s plan to donate $100,000 towards the cause.
Peter and Mia Mirtschin have pledged the money towards plans for a new captive breeding program at Clayton Bay, east of Goolwa, which they say will involve tadpoles or eggs being released in the area.
“The bell frogs are the biggest known frog in the area,” Mr Mirtschin said.
“They’re still being recorded along the river further upstream but none have been recorded around the Lower Lakes for two or three years.”
The pair are members of the Clayton Bay Nursery and Environment Group, which has applied to Alexandrina Council to build a new shed and external breeding yard at its home base.
Mr Mirtschin suspected many of the area’s southern bell frogs had fallen victim to cats and foxes.
“If you go through the list of threatened species, it’s important to do something for all of them but that’s beyond our financial capability so we just picked this one, which we think is quite a doable project.”
A research proposal by the nursery and environment group found they also faced threats including mosquitofish, carp hunting spawn and changes to local hydrology and habitat.
He hopes the project will involve an alliance with a local universities, which could study the population and find ways to help the species recover.
The former toxicologist and University of South Australia adjunct research associate said bell frogs were an important food source for tiger snakes.
“For years, we noticed the tiger snake numbers going down, down, down,” he said. “It’s really sad. They’re not that popular with people but never the less, they’re an important cog in the environment and an important predator.”
He hoped the reintroduction of bell frogs would have the flow-on effect of helping tiger snake populations – “an important cog in the environment” – recover.
Mark Hutchinson, head of biological and earth sciences at the SA Museum, said the southern bell frog had been hit hard by droughts and the chytrid fungus, which had also decimated other species.
He said the project could create a reliable area for the species to survive in, during tough conditions.
“This might act as a permanent refuge or oasis,” Dr Hutchinson said.
“It won’t get (the population) back to what it was but it will maybe guarantee the future of that species in the area, which is no small thing.”
An Environment Department spokeswoman said southern bell frog populations in the Lower Lakes were generally “low to extremely low”, but extensive monitoring has not been undertaken since 2014-15.
“From an ecological point of view, captive breeding is considered a last resort to prevent species loss because it is usually resource-intensive and can present risks, such as biosecurity issues,” she said.
Natural Resources SA Murray Darling Basin was monitoring the species in the region.
“On-ground works … are expected to benefit the extent of bell frog habitat in the region by improving flow and connectivity of wetlands,” the spokeswoman said.