| Re: I saw it in the papers!
Croak!
“Officials from our hygiene department were doing their routine job of checking the abattoir fridges,” a City Hall spokesman told reporters in Lima, “when one of them noticed a frog jumping out. Further investigation led him to several large crates, which he ordered staff to open. Inside were thousands of Titicaca frogs, about 4,000 live ones and another 1,000 that had already died. Obviously they were a wholesale delivery, on their way to frog juicing shops, to be liquidised and turned into Peruvian Viagra.” The spokesman was describing attempts by the Peruvian government to combat the illicit trade in Telmatobius coleus, and endangered species known locally as the Titicaca frog. “There’s a growing problem in cities like Lima and Arequipa, because men are convinced that these frogs are aphrodisiacs, that they’re better than Viagra and without the risk of a heart attack. There are several frog juicers operating in the city, in shops where customers can choose their own frog from a tank. It’s then dropped live into a household blender, along with water, honey and a local tuber, and whizzed into a frog cocktail that is drunk immediately for maximum potency. Although the frogs are an endangered species, we only have the power to protect then when they are in transit, not in the shops, and there is an increasing market for them. A recent television report estimated that 150 live frogs are needed each day to satisfy Lima’s demand for frog juice, and that figure fits with our own estimates.” The frogs were taken to a colonial fountain in the city centre to splash around, before being returned to their native lakes by the ecological police. (The Age (Australia), 29/4/05) |