CONSERVATION ANIMAL
BRINGING FROGS BACK from THE BRINK
SPOTT ED TRE E FRO G
Zoos Victoria’s new Amphibian Bushfire Recovery Centre is fighting to save three rare native frog species.
SOUTHERN GIANT BURROWING FROG
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WORDS Susan Horsburgh
WATS ON ’S TR EE FROG
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ustralia’s frogs had been under attack for years – from climate change, land clearing and pollution, introduced species like trout, feral cats, foxes and hoof stock, not to mention the deadly chytrid fungus, which has destroyed amphibians across the globe – but then came the Black Summer bushfires of 2019–20. Fires razed more than 1.5 million hectares of Victorian bushland and choked streams with ash, decimating already endangered frog populations. Now at crisis point, the amphibians have been thrown a lifeline thanks to the Australian Government Bushfire Recovery Program for Wildlife and their Habitats, and