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The zootechnist who broke with the poison frog trade

2022-03-12T09:46:50.949Z


Iván Lozano and his project for the reproduction and legal export of seven varieties of these amphibians puts a multimillion-dollar and hostile market in check with them. Colombia is the second country with the greatest wealth of these animals and also the first illegal exporter of them


It all started at the El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá, Colombia.

In 1998, Iván Lozano (Bogotá, 49 years old)

received a call from the police

to go "urgently" to a collection center for seized animals - rescued from traffickers -: they had retained two suspicious boxes that were bound for Europe.

Within them, about 400 dart frogs, one of the most poisonous.

A week later, the call was repeated;

another 300. More than half of the seized amphibians belonged to the Lehmann variety, of which there were barely less than 40,000 left in the world at the time.

Today, there are less than 5,000.

When the zootechnist

arrived at the building, several had already died.

"I could'nt believe it.

They were packed in any way and half moribund.

I just thought there had to be some way to save them from extinction in a practical way."

Seven years later, he found a way.

In 2015, after 10 years of bureaucracy, permits and licences, they decided to embark on animal husbandry, the breeding of wild animals in captivity or semi-captivity for commercial, scientific or restocking purposes.

The objective of the Treasures of Colombia initiative was twofold: on the one hand, to market species abroad (in Colombia it is illegal to keep a wild animal as a pet) guaranteeing their well-being and thus competing with the mafias that traffic illegally with them and, on the other hand, another, to increase the population of specimens at risk of disappearing.

“The ideal would be to end the demand, yes.

But that requires an environmental education of generations and, meanwhile, the species is on the verge of extinction.

Traffickers are still looking for ways to get them to the United States or Europe in any way, "

says the manager of the organization from the headquarters, in Nocaima, 70 kilometers from Bogotá.

They are the only ones in the country with a license to export these animals.

Colombia is the second country with the greatest richness of amphibians, with 791 species currently reported (corresponding to 734 anurans –frogs and toads–, 25 salamanders and 32 caecilians).

Although it is also the first illegal exporter of them.

This, wildlife trafficking, is the third most valued business in the world, since it generates about 25,000 million dollars a year, according to UN estimates.

Several frogs Phyllobates Terribilis in the laboratory of Treasures of Colombia, in Cota, Cundinamarca.Santiago Mesa

“The ones that are most threatened are the Neotropical poisonous frogs”, explains Mileidy Betancourth-Cundar, a researcher specializing in the ecology and behavior of this group.

According to a study she carried out based on the testimonies of collectors, in the last four decades, more than 80,000 specimens were removed from their habitats.

“The problem is that this information does not leave the scientific field.

It has no impact.

And the communities that live with this biodiversity are usually very vulnerable;

For a peasant without resources or a victim of the armed conflict, selling them to the mafias is a way of earning a living.”

The expert also criticizes that they become the scapegoat of the huge mafias behind, serving sentences of between 5 to 11 years in prison.

“In Colombia, the lack of will of the environmental authorities and the fight of egos between institutions come together.

That's what hinders initiatives like these

Mileidy Betancourth-Cundar, researcher specializing in the ecology and behavior of poison dart frogs

In three laboratories located between the mountains of Cota, a Colombian municipality, located in the center of the country, there are more than 200 terrariums of the organization that emulate the ecosystem of these colorful and precious wild jewels.

Each one is a piece of jungle.

And the design has been perfected over time, explains Alejandra Curubo, operational director and zootechnician.

A layer of moist leaf litter, endemic vegetation that includes several levels for them to climb, stones in a container with water, larvae and mosquitoes, a tube where they can lay eggs and specific lights and humidity.

“We go to the field whenever we can and observe.

Based on what we see they like or need, we go back and apply it,” she says.

Alejandra Curubo, operational director and zootechnician of Tesoros de Colombia, observes a frog laying eggs at the end of February. Santiago Mesa

The process was not easy.

Mainly because there is no pioneer project and because the reproduction of some of the frog varieties is extremely complex.

This is the case of the Oophaga, one of the most endangered, since it is the mother who is in charge of hiding the tadpoles in different corners and feeding one infertile egg daily during the first two months.

In each clutch, in the wild, 10% of the tadpoles survive.

Only this team of scientists has managed to emulate this difficult task with an inverted success rate.

"We have developed a unique protocol and still they do not let us dedicate ourselves to repopulation," says Lozano.

If they let us repopulate, we would focus on that and not on the commercial part.

It is not our goal

Nicolás Pérez, project coordinator

Nicolás Pérez, project coordinator, is blunt: “If they let us repopulate, we would focus on that and not on the commercial part.

It is not our goal."

Dart frogs that are born in the wild are poisonous thanks to the fact that they ingest insects that expel these toxins.

However, in the laboratory they are fed with other invertebrates that lack these properties.

“If we could release them, we would start a process of adaptation to the environment and we would change their diet so that they could survive in the environment without problems and be competitive in the environment.

But we avoid it now because for export it is an unnecessary condition."

But the regional environmental authorities do not allow them to advance in the liberation process.

“We have some animals of the species

Oophaga lehmanni ready to release;

we have someone to follow up and the right place.

But they argue that these frogs are related – that they interbred with siblings – and that they can cause genetic problems.

It is the excuse, because no one has yet done genetic studies on them.”

For Betancourth-Cundar, several factors come together in Colombia: "The lack of will of the environmental authorities and the fight of egos between institutions is what hinders initiatives like these."

A frog of the variety Oophaga histriónica, in the laboratory of Tesoros de Colombia. Santiago Mesa

There are already more than 5,000 frogs that have been exported abroad thanks to almost a hundred parents, provided by the regional environmental authorities.

The shipment process from Colombia takes between one and two months: the animals obtain a kind of individual documentation, with all the data to identify them, they go through about five controls and inspections –veterinary, regional institutions, airlines and police– and they are reviewed again in the country of destination.

Although measuring the results in just seven years of activity is complex, a scientific study published in El Sevier showed that the number of exports of Tesoros de Colombia dominates the Sunnidense market -the main demander- in the species Oophaga lehmanni and Oophaga histriónica, since 2015, even including the illegal market.

Although the project has been applauded internationally, in Colombia there have been many voices against it, mainly due to the commercial ambition of the project.

Lozano and his team have also been attacked and even threatened for it.

“I wonder what profit is, if we sell frogs 30% cheaper every three years and, in addition, we give all the information on breeding and reproduction to hobbyists and other buyers – such as owners of zoos or natural parks –

that they acquire it so that they themselves can increase the number of this species”, he narrates something annoying.

“Our objective is none other than to work on healing and recovery.

The conservation of what little remains in Colombia is not enough.”

Although he also reflects: "I wish this were an economic model for the communities and they could profit and get the traffickers off the map."

A specimen of Phyllobates bicolor in Treasures of Colombia, the most poisonous frog in the world.Santiago Mesa

Betancourth-Cundar adds: “In Colombia, existing conservation projects are very focused on environmental education or outreach.

There is no other initiative like this.

And, although it is controversial, it has been shown to have an impact on traffic, in the United States.”

For Curubo, the key is “what is in our hands”: “Animalists say that there is nothing better than these specimens being in nature and in their ecosystem.

And it would be ideal, yes.

But, what happens when they no longer have a medium to return to because they are destroying their ecosystem or because they are going to be trafficked?

This is a solution to imminent extinction.”

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Source: elparis

All news articles on 2022-03-12

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