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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Deformed Frogs May Be Early Warning Scientist Says Mutation Could Be A Sign Of Pollution

Associated Press

An 8-year-old boy who found a five-legged frog Saturday afternoon has joined scientists across the country wondering about the cause of such deformities.

Andrew De Korte was looking for frogs to show his mother when he spotted the tiny tree frog with a fifth leg extending from its back.

“From a biologist’s point of view, it’s an amazing thing,” said Simon Wray, a biologist with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Similar deformities have been reported throughout the Midwest and as far away as Quebec and Vermont.

“No one really knows why it’s happening, what’s going on,” Wray said.

He said Andrew’s find was cause for curiosity and some concern, but not for panic. The deformity could have been caused by any variety of reasons, from pollutants to excessive heating of the eggs, he said.

So far, little has been discovered about the widespread discovery of frog deformities in North America. The federal Environmental Protection Agency plans to do its own study.

Mutations are of interest to the scientific community because of the potential for signs of environmental dangers, said Wray.

A woman in Wimer, a small town northwest of Medford, called Wray’s office late in August to report that she had found two frogs with four back legs each. Wray said he was on vacation when that happened, however.

The biologist said he would visit Andrew and his parents, Mike and Paula De Korte, to find out more about the frog.

Paula De Korte wondered if chemical sprays from a nearby orchard could have caused the malformation. “We have lots of little frogs around but this is the first one we’ve seen like that,” she said.

The biologist, meanwhile, wants anyone who finds deformed frogs to contact him at his office at 1-541-826-8774.

“There is a lot of interest in these things now,” he said.