Rich Mason, a wildlife biologist in Maryland, got a call from a concerned friend whose backyard had just gotten a pool.
In an interview with The Dodo, Mason said, “Because I’m a wildlife scientist, I’m the one who gets contacted when friends have snakes in their garage, that type of stuff.” I was astounded when I heard that this friend of mine “was removing dead frogs from their pool every day.”
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Not even Mason considered the potential risk that swimming pools posed to frogs. “I started looking into it,” he said. Mason found that many people were looking for advice online on how to keep frogs and other animals from drowning in their pools. The frogs looked to have no trouble jumping in and exploring the water, yet they were trapped. Yet, no credible inquiry into this was conducted. I need to admit that I turned into surprised.
Mice and chipmunks have also been spotted by pool owners as they drown. As Mason put it, “Pretty much every animal that travels through a suburban area might fall into a pool at some point.”
Mason found that the United States is home to millions of pools, with an additional 100,000 added each year. There might be a significant number of little wildlife lost in the situation.
So, Mason made a decision to do something about it: “OK, let’s see if we can come up with anything to address this problem,” he says. He gathered up some scraps of foam and shuffled down to his workshop, where he retrieved his sewing machine.
He built a prototype and had his pals try it out. Then another appeared. Then another appeared. Mason said, “I bought additional foam and constructed more devices and gathered feedback from other folks.” The author says that their motivation was to aid animals.
Mice and chipmunks have also been spotted by pool owners as they drown. As Mason put it, “Pretty much every animal that travels through a suburban area might fall into a pool at some point.”
The simplest method to tell if the early FrogLog was effective was to search for any small bodies in the mornings, in addition to the pools being progressively clear because most frogs and animals are more active at night.
Mason started making several hundred of these devices every year in his garage for people who wanted to rescue animals from their pools. FrogLog ultimately formalized, making it available to help animals everywhere
and it’s a big hit with the furry friends. Mason said, “The good news is that we’ve had a lot of positive reactions from individuals, including some pretty impassioned emails declaring this to be the finest thing since sliced bread.”
According to one Connecticutite, “It was such a comfort not to see dead frogs in the pool’s filter basket or floating on top.” To add to the fun, I had a bullfrog who made his home in the pool, hung out on the FrogLog, and used it to hop in and out of the water whenever he liked.
Newly born ducklings have been seen by a FrogLog fan taking a nap on the site.
An Ontario woman said, “I had my concerns when my husband purchased this, but then I saw a tiny Eastern fox snake utilize it to get out of our pool.” One of the endangered snake species is this one.
