Mapusa: Highlighting the urgent need to stop the indiscriminate killing of frogs, NGO GOACAN on Friday held an awareness programme in Mapusa and appealed to people to stop eating frog meat.

On the occasion of Save the Frogs Day, volunteers of GOACAN displayed placards and distributed informative slips to consumers informing them that the killing of frogs is also an ecological crime against the food chain. The action which was organised by GOACAN was part of the ongoing Malaria Awareness Week underway from April 25 to May 1 wherein people are being informed of the need for community involvement to tackle vector-borne diseases.

It may be noted that during the monsoon which is the mating season for many species of frogs, in many villages in Goa, frogs are hunted for the purpose of commercial sale to restaurants as ‘jumping chicken’.

Over the years, GOACAN has been consistently creating awareness to educate people that frogs are protected under the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972 whereby catching, selling, killing frogs or serving and eating frog meat contravenes the provisions of the Act and attracts stringent punishment of imprisonment for a period of three years and a fine of `25,000 when cases are booked by the forest department officials.

Meanwhile, GOACAN has decided to write to the forest department requesting for a full-scale awareness and action campaign in North Goa during the forthcoming monsoon to deter those involved in the crime.

The NGO will also take up the issue with the tourism department so that appropriate advisory can be issued to all stakeholders in the tourism sector catering to the domestic and foreign tourists visiting Goa.