A minor migration of tiny baby frogs across the R44 between the Paardevlei precinct and the dam at The Sanctuary shopping centre resulted in the partial closure of the road on Sunday (13 March).
Volunteers jumped into action to clear the road of hundreds of common platanna frogs during what was the first rains of the season.
“We anticipated that as soon as the first rains come there would be a migration and therefore were on standby,” said local conservationist and founder of “Frog Friends” Elma Pollard, who added that although it wasn’t a mass migration as seen last year it still warranted an intervention (“Migrating frogs squished on R44”, DistrictMail, 11 March 2021).
She said about 07:30 that morning only a handful of frogs were seen crossing in the drizzle, but by 09:30 they received a call from a member of the public who had seen the “frogs crossing” signboard, which has the emergency number.
The traffic department responded to the scene and volunteers made up of Frog Friends and junior group Helderberg Eco-Rangers were mobilised.
“Our response plan was to rescue as much frogs as we could and it proved an important exercise to prepare for a potential mass migration in the coming weeks,” she said, adding that they did not find the rare Cape Platanna among the migrating frogs.
“It’s very probable that when the next rains come we could find this rare species. We are now improving our systems and communications to be better prepared when the migration happens again.”
Pollard added the groups were very grateful to the traffic department, for its personnel assisted with the road closure, volunteers and motorists.
To find out more, find “Frog Friends” on Facebook.
