Fears are being held for a population of Bell Frogs, which are listed as endangered, following a blaze which burnt through 102 ha of wetlands at Kooragang Island over the weekend.
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species, the number of green and golden bell frogs are estimated to have declined by more than 30 per cent in the past 10 years.
University of Newcastle PhD candidate Chad Beranek is studying the restoration and ecology of the green and golden Bell Frog on Kooragang Island and said he fears a site inspection will uncover the charred corpses of the threatened species.
"There is only about 40 populations of them known across the entire coast of Australia, where they used to be found right up the coast from northern New South Wales right down to far-east Gippsland in Victoria.
"There are only a few pockets remaining and Koorangang Island is one of the more productive pockets for this frog species.
"Kooragang island is definitely known to attract the attention of interesting types of people since it is a publicly accessible island, even after hours. It is not uncommon to see burnt out cars and the like.
"However, in the last few months, the amount of deliberately lit fires has increased hugely. In my first season I saw two the entire six months, but in the last four months, I have counted eight.
"These persistent perpetrators need to be caught or at least educated. Please share this post so that we can build momentum and pressure to have this seriously investigated, as I don't want to spend any more of my PhD wandering wastelands looking for corpses of the animals I love and have studied days ago while they were alive," Mr Beranek said.
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| A Green Bell Frog. Photo: The Australian Reptile Park. |
