Panamanian golden frogs removed from the wild

A fungus called chytrid, has caused a dramatic decline in a lot of amphibian species in North America, Central America, South America and Eastern Australia. The fungus can not be controlled very easily, meaning the fungus is still spreading. One amphibian species with the disease is the golden frog.

Golden Frogs live in the Panamanian rainforest in Central America, bordering Costa Rica and Colombia. Shortly after the BBC One series Life In Cold Blood had been filmed the golden frogs had to be taken from the wild and put into captivity to avoid the species catching the disease which could result in it becoming extinct.

Until there is a chance of the disease dying away the frogs will be kept in captivity, where hopefully they will breed (increasing the numbers), and then hopefully released back into the wild, if the disease eventually dies away from the area.