Although amphibian migration began unusually early this year, 149 volunteers took part in the Nature Conservation Agency's (the agency) campaign "Mission TOAD. Save the prince!". During the peak of amphibian migration, they rescued 1,226 toads on roads across Latvia, along with several hundred other amphibians, carrying them to safety from the carriageway to the roadside. Added together, the time spent on the mission amounted to eight full days and nights of rescuing toads and other amphibians this year.
"We are grateful to every volunteer who helped even a single amphibian cross a road safely this year. The number of amphibians saved out in nature is most likely far greater than the mission's statistics show, because not all of these lifesavers became official volunteers and reported the 'princes' they rescued," says campaign coordinator Ilze Reinika.
Toad migration begins with the arrival of warm weather, which cannot be predicted precisely in advance. This year amphibian migration began unusually early — as early as the end of March — and continued into April. In other years, the slow-moving toads wake from hibernation and migrate to their spawning grounds only in mid or late April. This year, however, the greatest number of reports of mass migration came in during the middle of April, at almost all of the known migration stretches. This is a stark sign that climate change has reached Latvia too.
Recruiting volunteers to rescue amphibians near roads during the spring migration is common practice around the world. In Latvia too, volunteers have now been surveying identified critical points on roads for the third year running. A mission at a single site can run for several weeks, during which the designated stretch of road has to be surveyed, mostly in the evening after sunset, helping amphibians across that life-threatening stretch of road and reporting data on what was observed during the migration.
In addition to the sites the agency already knew about, public participation over the past couple of years has identified several dozen more toad migration sites in every region where the animals cross roads. This meant that volunteers could choose from 50 critical points for their rescue work this year.
As the mission draws to a close, an exhibition from the "Mission TOAD. Save the prince!" campaign can be seen at Riga National Zoological Garden until 26 May. It is a reminder that anyone can take part in the mission, because the work is not hard, though it does call for a sense of responsibility. The information provided both at the exhibition and on the website www.daba.gov.lv/lv/misija-krupis will be useful to everyone, because a toad's life is long, migration routes do not change, and it is clear that help will be needed again next year at the 50 stretches of road already identified.