Photo: ~Ans~ / Flickr

A California school has banned frog dissection, replacing it with virtual computer-based learning. Rancho Verde High School is said to be the first high school in the US to ban the dissection of frogs in favour of software. According to Animal Welfare Online, millions of frogs are used in American schools every year. The high school’s decision comes after pressure placed on schools by animal welfare activists Save the Frogs! and the Animal Welfare Institute.

Free software

For agreeing to stop dissecting frogs, Rancho Verde High School will be receiving Digital Frog 2.5 software free, as will the next 24 schools that move from real to virtual dissection. The school has committed to not using live frogs for five years, and not buying 30 frog dissection kits over these five years will save the school $6,800 (just over £4,000).

Ending dissection by 2014

Save the Frogs! wants to end the dissection of live frogs in US schools by 2014. They are committed to their cause because a fungus epidemic, damage to habitats and climate change are leading to a steep decline in the world’s wild frog species.

The non-profit organisation says: ‘Frog populations have been declining worldwide at unprecedented rates, and nearly one-third of the world’s amphibian species are threatened with extinction. Up to 200 species have completely disappeared since 1980, and this is NOT normal.’

A large number of frogs used in US schools are taken from the wild, which compounds the problem. Frogs bred on farms can carry diseases that will damage local habitats if they escape.

Animals aren’t disposable

Save the Frogs! says that US schools are teaching children that animals are disposable. Frog dissection has been used for educational purposes in the US since the 1920s but the organisation insists there are alternatives like the Digital Frog 2.5 software they are giving to schools.

Tags: education, school