Mick Bajcar
Last update: 17 August, 2002

A letter has been received from Dr. Jack Frenkel in the USA. In it he says:

‘I came across an article News about azureus (Edinburgh Zoo): News from Edwin Blake and Douglas Sherriff of the Edinburgh Zoo, 1995. On p.8 under Final Result he says that they gave every pair the opportunity to produce 25-30 young frogs, and that thereafter they destroyed the eggs to avoid overproduction. Perhaps they would agree to donate their overproduction to the British Dendrobatid Group. In the US, there is at least one import from the Guianas and sooner or later we could exchange this stock for that of Edinburgh. The Edinburgh practice appears wasteful. You do not have to worry about inbreeding for 20 generations!’

I have sent a copy to Edwin Blake and Douglas Sherriff asking for their comments but have not yet received a reply. This will, hopefully, be included in the next Newsletter. Jack continues:

‘I have been frustrated about not hearing any more about the very reasonable hypothesis of iodine prophylaxis for spindle leg disease. Too often there are only anecdotal observations.’