Exposing Cruelty in the Frog-Leg Industry

The consequences of this industry go beyond the cruelty inflicted on frogs. Various sources have shown that frog populations in Indonesia have declined in recent decades. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species, populations of the fanged river frog and the crab-eating frog are decreasing. Frogs are considered by conservationists to be a keystone and an indicator species, meaning that they’re integral to a healthy, functioning ecosystem and that their decline is a sign of ecological problems.

If this trend continues, problems stemming from ecological imbalance—such as an increased use of pesticides by farmers because there are no natural predators for insects—will inevitably develop.

Of the two species of frogs captured by workers in the video, only one is on the Ministry of Environment and Forestry’s list of species permitted to be caught in nature. This restriction is likely why frog legs are often mislabeled for export.

Many frogs are protective parents who nurture their young, and these sensitive animals feel pain and fear just like chickens, pigs, and other animals. Frogs don’t exist for humans, and eating their body parts for our pleasure is speciesist.

Whether for a frog’s leg, a chicken’s thigh, or a pig’s hind leg, the cruelty and suffering involved in slaughtering the animals for human consumption are the same.