Thousands of helpers are ready, the toads migrate to the spawning waters. The weather must be wet and mild. So that the common toads are not run over, many are collected on protective fences and carried across the street.
Düsseldorf (dpa / lnw) - The toad migration begins, and thousands of helpers are ready all over North Rhine-Westphalia. "We expect the first hikes on Friday," says Monika Hachtel, the expert on amphibians and reptiles at the Nabu Nature Conservation Union. Because when it rains and nighttime temperatures of six degrees, toads wake up from their hibernation and make their way to their spawning waters.
Because the amphibians could be run over by cars, they are stopped at specially erected protective fences. The animals fall into buried buckets, are then carried across the street by helpers and thus saved.
"Toads are found in 95 percent of the buckets," says Hachtel. "Bufo bufo", the scientific name of the common toad, is found throughout Germany. The animals travel up to two kilometers to get to their spawning waters. Sometimes alpine newts, salamanders or jumping frogs are also discovered in the buckets.
"In big cities it is not a problem to find helpers for amphibian protection," reports Hachtel. In rural areas it is more difficult. According to the Nabu, several thousand people are active in toad protection in North Rhine-Westphalia. A few hundred toad fences are looked after by volunteers.
In some cases, municipalities also take on this task. The city of Düsseldorf, for example, has been involved for more than 30 years and sees it as an important task in species protection. "The number of animals that employees can collect at the protective fences has declined significantly in recent years," the city said. In Gütersloh, to protect frogs, toads and newts, some roads will be completely or partially closed to vehicles.
Nevertheless, millions of amphibians are run over on German roads every spring, says Nabu expert Monika Hachtel. "Not every street can be equipped with fences." It is a great achievement of the many volunteers "to prevent massacres at least in some places". The districts and cities that take over the protection themselves are to be commended.
With a body full of warts and bulging eyes, the common toad is not a beauty. The "moist-loving shadowy creature of a rather clumsy shape" was even used as an additive for witches' ointments, reports the Nabu. But helpers are also delighted by the undemanding little animals with golden eyes. The larger females carry the males piggyback to the spawning waters.
