Appetite for Frog Legs Drives Species to Extinction

The European Union imports approximately 4,070 tonnes of frog legs per year.

This corresponds to roughly 81 to 200 million frogs – the vast majority of which are caught in the wild. This makes the EU the world’s largest importer of frog legs; would-be gourmets are particularly keen on large-legged species. This threatens frog populations in the supplier countries of Indonesia, Turkey, and Albania.

According to estimates by scientists, the Anatolian water frog in Turkey could be extinct by 2032 due to overharvesting, while other species such as the Albanian water frog are already under threat.

Decades of overexploitation of frog populations for the EU market have had dramatic consequences:

While India and Bangladesh initially supplied frog legs to Europe in the 1980s, Indonesia took over as the largest supplier from the 1990s onwards. In that Southeast Asian country – and now even in Turkey and Albania – the larger frog species are disappearing one after another. This is a fatal domino effect for species conservation.

Dr. Sandra Altherr, co-founder of the Munich-based organisation Pro Wildlife

An effect that goes beyond the frogs themselves: “Frogs play a central role in the ecosystem as insect controllers – and where frogs disappear, the use of toxic pesticides increases. The frog leg trade therefore has not only direct consequences for the frogs themselves, but for nature conservationz”, emphasises Charlotte Nithart, president of the French organisation Robin des Bois.

Added to this are the cruel killing methods: “Most frogs have their legs severed with an axe or scissors in rapid succession – without anaesthesia. The upper half is discarded while still alive, and the legs are skinned and frozen for export”, reports Altherr.

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), amphibians are the most severely threatened group among vertebrates, and the EU Habitats Directive prevents native wild frogs from being caught in member states.

However, the 27-country bloc does not restrict imports, and approximately 4,070 tonnes of frogs caught abroad land on European plates every year.

The appetite for frog meat appears to be greatest in Belgium, which accounts for 70% of imports. According to Pro Wildlife, however, the majority of these ultimately go to France, which directly imports 16.7%. The Netherlands accounts for 6.4%.

An earlier study by Pro Wildlife had already examined EU frog leg imports for the first time in 2011. The newly published report “Deadly Dish“” highlights three distinct problems a decade later:

1. The plundering of frog populations for the EU market continued largely unchecked in Indonesia over the past decade. The EU imported more than 30 million kg of frog legs from Indonesia alone during the period 2010–2019, with consequences for wild populations: the once commonly traded Java frog (Limnonectes macrodon) — contrary to the misleading labels on supermarket packaging — has largely disappeared from trade.
2. In other countries of origin as well, overexploitation has already severely decimated frog populations: field scientists from Turkey warn that the water frogs native to that country could be extinct by 2032 if the enormous levels of wild harvesting continue. In Albania, the fourth-largest supplier of frog legs to the EU, the Shqiperica water frog (Pelophylax shqipericus) is now critically endangered.
3. While the USA also imports vast quantities of frogs for consumption, these are predominantly frogs bred specifically for trade. Unlike the USA, the EU imports mostly wild-caught frogs — with serious consequences for species and nature conservation. Approximately 74% of EU imports come from Indonesia, 4% from Turkey, and 0.7% from Albania, where wild frog populations are increasingly under threat.

Robin des Bois and Pro Wildlife are calling on the EU to finally put an end to the overexploitation of frog populations for the local gourmet market and to initiate international trade restrictions through the global wildlife treaty CITES.