Volunteers and local police in the western Polish city of Poznań have joined efforts to save migrating toads from becoming roadkill as they flock to ponds during mating season.
At this time of the year, common toads wake from their winter sleep and set off towards ponds, usually travelling by night when it is cooler and more humid. They also often opt for tarmac paths and roads, which leads to almost a fifth (18%) of toads being killed by cars, bicycles and trains.
“The number of amphibians is drastically decreasing,” says Mikołaj Kaczmarski, a herpetologist from the University of Life Sciences in Poznań. “In 2013-2014 we would have even 250 individuals in a single night [at one] location, but today only several appear there throughout the whole season.”
The efforts are being led by the Traszka Group, a collection of self-described “enthusiasts” founded in 2011 to protect endangered amphibians in Poland. This year, they have already moved 609 amphibians in six locations. But, as mating season begins, greater numbers are migrating.
“This year we are operating in seven locations and on 29 March we had more than 100 individuals,” Kaczmarski, the group’s unofficial leader, told Notes from Poland. “37 volunteers have signed up and several people are helping off the bat.” This year, they have also been joined by the municipal police in Poznań.
The volunteers take measurements of amphibians and reptiles to “assess their condition”, lobby local land managers, and chaperone the animals to ponds. “Population indicators help us understand how amphibians cope in different spots over the years,” Kaczmarski explained.
The group also seeks to educate people about how to avoid stepping on toads or hitting them with bikes. Kaczmarski said that he “objects to the senseless death” of the “useful” animals. “They are also vertebrates, blood flows through their veins, pumped by the heart, and they feel pain and fear,” he told Notes from Poland.
However, Kaczmarski added that the group’s efforts take “an emotional and mental” toll. “How many times can you lift a blood-drenched toad off the asphalt, which is still alive because a car missed its head?”
“It is also a bit weird…to not be able to plan holidays and fail at work because you have to go and walk around with a bucket at night,” he adds. “Because of the campaign, my PhD thesis slipped by a year.”
The common toad, which is under partial protection in Poland, has seen its numbers dwindle due to the destruction of habitats by new infrastructure, a drying of groundwater and road mortality. The animals also get trapped in roadside sewage channels.
Main image credit: Grupa Traszka/Facebook
Maria Wilczek is deputy editor of Notes from Poland. She is a regular writer for The Times, The Economist and Al Jazeera English, and has also featured in Foreign Policy, Politico Europe, The Spectator and Gazeta Wyborcza.
