Intensive French Frog Farming further endangers Asian Frog species

Giant frog farms could satisfy western diners' apparently insatiable appetite for frog meat, if pioneering French research is put into practice.

That's not just good news for the Europe's menus, but also for Asia's frogs, which conservationists say are in danger of being eaten to extinction.

Farming would also mean frogs could be raised close to where they're eaten, which could reduce the spread of diseases that are threatening frog populations around the world. But some ecologists and conservationists say that intensive frog farming could spawn a new range of problems.

The vast majority of frogs destined for European dinner tables are harvested from the wild in Asia, because previous attempts to farm frogs closer to home have ended in failure.

Disease spreads easily between frogs kept in close quarters, and they prefer expensive live prey to cheap food pellets, so they're not easy to raise. Another problem is that frogs hibernate for relatively long periods in cool European climates. So farming has thus far proven uneconomic.

Now, however, André Neveu at the French National Institute for Agricultural Research in Rennes says he's managed to raise common European frogs under intensive farming conditions.