The morning of Friday February 16, started on a dismal note as for the second time this month, frogs from the Common Platanna specie battled to cross the busy road along the section of the R44 coming from the Paardevlei Precinct heading towards the dam at The Sanctuary Shopping Centre in Somerset West.
Earlier this month, thousands of mainly adult frogs were killed by passing motorists on the same stretch of road when they attempted to make their way to the other side.
When Bolander arrived at the scene later the morning, frog remains could still be seen splattered all over the road, where the frogs attempted to cross.
An informal trader, Gift Mbusoyi, whose stall is positioned at the crossing point says when he arrived at about 7am this morning, the frogs were still busy crossing the road. He says after years of selling on the same spot, he sees the frogs dying on the road every year.
“If the frogs want to cross this morning the cars drive right over them, you can even see it was a lot of them, they wanted to cross here, but were killed,” he says as he points to the frog remains visible on the road. He says this is an incident he has come to expect when it rains.
Tiffany Schultz, from the Frog Friends Helderberg organisation, says the most recent dispersal consisted more of baby frogs moving from across the Paardevlei dam to the dam situated at the Sanctuary Shopping Centre. She estimates a few hundred frogs were killed during this event.
She attributes the possible reason behind this most recent dispersal as occurring after laying of eggs, where dispersal happens to avoid the adults from eating their babies or babies disperse as a way to ensure genetic diversity when breeding.
The dispersal, she says is a natural occurrence which human intervention would in no way be able to stop so the viable solution would be to divert the frogs to the small tunnel which exists further down the road. “Studies have been done and it’s a natural instinct that can’t be stopped,” she says.
What the organisation has come up with as a temporary measure is for a wall to be built at the current spot of crossing and then to divert and guide the frogs further down in the direction of the tunnel that she says is located further along the road.
The organisation has in the past erected signage along this notorious road where frog migration often happens.
Other options or suggestions the group has received were to construct an electronic board on the road, which will then inform road users of dispersals when it happens, so users will know to divert their route.
Bolander enquired from the City of Cape Town on resolutions to this seasonal carnage triggered by the first summer rains. Eddie Andrews, Deputy mayor and mayoral committee member for spatial planning and environment says as a starting point is for more data to be collected on the migration, as existing research indicate that this species can migrate at different times and often large scale migrations are in search of more favourable habitats or a transition from temporary waterbodies to ones more permanent.
“However, more details are needed around the migration (the seasonality of the waterbody they utilise, as well as the surrounding area) and the motivation for the migration in order to address the challenges as mentioned,” he says.
“That said, an underpass could allow fauna movement across the R44; or as an alternative, to rather create a suitable, natural waterbody within a safe precinct on the same side of the road so that there is no need for the frogs to migrate. But before this could be done, the motivation for the migration must be investigated and confirmed,” he added.
But for now, as a preventive measure the Frog Friends Helderberg group are relying on public awareness, especially those residing in the Paardevlei area to contact the group as soon as they see sightings indicative of dispersals in motion.
To be informed the public can join the Frog Friends Helderberg Facebook page and the WhatsApp group where live updates are posted. “I think the most important thing people can do for now is to spread the word so that people will find alternative routes and not drive there when it does happen,” Tiffany advises.
The group does very active alerts when these dispersals happen and try to post awareness notices on as many social media platforms as possible to get people to divert their route away from this section of the road.
These dispersals do happen at night or in the early hours of the morning, so from a safety standpoint it has become unsafe for group members to physically go down there with buckets and scoops to help the frogs move, but if it’s safe for them to do so, group members do go down there and try to intervene by saving as many frogs as possible, but in peak traffic, this in itself is a dangerous exercise, explains Tiffany.
To sign up for these alerts and join the Frog Friends Helderberg group contact Tiffany at 083 648 1324 or Elma Pollard, group founder at 084 868 2908.
Bolander has contacted CapeNature for input on the migration of the Common Platanna in Somerset West and what their suggestions would be with regards to sustainable and effective solutions to curb this problem of frogs being killed and whether CapeNature can in any capacity play a role in these interventions and the implementation thereof. Their input will be added to a follow-up article when received.
