An opportunity to get involved in the rescue of “princes” or toads!

We invite volunteers to join the mission by filling out the application form https://ej.uz/s9uv. The task of the mission must be carried out mostly in the dark hours of the day, so the administration has provided reflective vests with campaign elements for the first 200 volunteers. Regardless of the location of the rescue, every volunteer needs a willingness to commit to the mission, a few free evening hours (1 to 2 weeks), clean gloves and a bucket, a reflective vest and a flashlight.

The migration time of toads varies from year to year, and a specific date when those involved in the mission should be ready to help the toads cannot be named. But migration is linked to the weather – as soon as the air warms up to at least +5°C and it rains, there is a high probability that the toads will wake up from hibernation and go to the spawning grounds.

“Another harbinger of the beginning of amphibian migration is frogs. They wake up first, but unlike toads, they jump, so they cross paths to spawning grounds much faster. But the toad is a slow crawler, the intended path tends to be one or even several kilometers long. They cover ~600 meters per day, so the migration can take several days. In addition, a toad perceives the machine as a threat and mistakenly thinks that by freezing it will also avoid this opponent,” explains Ilze Reinika, senior communication specialist of the administration.

The life span of a toad can reach up to 40 years, which is more than, for example, an elk. During its lifetime, the toad makes the same route to the spawning grounds every year, spawning in the same body of water where it hatched. His path to the spawning ground is genetically coded and is constant across generations. Therefore, it is not the toads that cross the roads, but the roads that cross the historical migration routes of the toads. Therefore, people around the world are being appealed to help the amphibians during their migration.

Saving toads is a simple, but very responsible thing to do. Anyone can become a savior by choosing the most convenient for them from the 49 designated sections of roads where amphibian migration routes intersect with roads (https://ej.uz/7umh). However, it is also not excluded to operate in the vicinity in an as yet unidentified place. Since the movement of toads mostly takes place a few hours after sunset (most intensively between 21 and 23), we encourage children and young people under 18 to participate only under the supervision of adults.

By participating in the toad rescue mission, the volunteers also take part in the monitoring of natural values ​​carried out by the society. After each time a volunteer has participated in the rescue of amphibians, a small amphibian registration form must be filled out. Such information helps to more accurately determine the condition of each species and the factors influencing it, thus identifying the nature protection measures necessary to improve the condition of the species.

In the past two years, a total of more than 200 volunteers have been involved in the mission, who have carried out toad rescue works in almost all of Latvia. Every year there have been individual intensive migration points, for example, last year in the vicinity of Saldus, volunteers helped even more than 200 toads safely cross the highway in one evening.

Toads are important members of the life or food chain, their diet consists mainly of various insects, molluscs and earthworms. But they themselves are willingly eaten by many predatory animals, including the little eagle, wood owl, sermul, ferret, badger, etc. When toads disappear, the natural balance can be disrupted, biodiversity can decrease in general, higher class species disappear. Learn more about toads and the mission: https://www.daba.gov.lv/lv/misija-krupis.

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