IVAN VALENZUELA/Coachella Uninc
SALTON CITY, Calif. – Assemblymember V. Manuel Pérez has joined the Sea View Elementary School student effort to save the California red-legged frog with the introduction of Assembly Bill 2364, which would establish this endangered frog as the official state amphibian.
“It started when Ms. (Virginia) Haddad was looking for extracurricular things to bring to the after-school program for the enrichment of the students,” said Dr. Timothy Steele, principal of Sea View Elementary School.
When Haddad came across the Save the Frogs Campaign, founded by ecologist Dr. Kerry Kriger, she saw an opportunity for the Prodigy Cats, the after-school club for academically gifted and advanced students.
“They (students) started doing some research, and when they looked into the red-legged frog, they saw its plight and what was happening to it,” says Dr. Steele.
The California red-legged frog is federally listed as a threatened species that is protected by law. The frog is endemic to California and, due to habitat loss and destruction, it has been ranked among America’s most threatened frogs and toads.
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