Chinese officials sieze lethal frogs

Beijing, Apr 19: Chinese authorities have seized a parcel sent from Poland containing 10 venomous frogs, including the most poisonous golden dart frog whose one gram of venom is enough to kill 15,000 people.

Beijing quarantine authorities seized the parcel earlier this month which had brightly-coloured frogs contained in plastic containers hidden inside it.

The were declared as "clothes and gifts". The boxes were wrapped in clothes and newspaper in an attempt to fool the X-ray scanners, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

A gram of toxin produced by the golden poison dart frog, the most deadly of the haul, is enough to kill 15,000 humans, said a spokesman of the Beijing Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau.

He said checks on parcels will be intensified to curb illegal wildlife trade. In September 2015, the bureau intercepted a poison dart frog in a parcel mailed from Hong Kong.

Several types of the poison dart frogs are included in the red list of threatened species of International Union for Conservation of Nature. The golden poison dart frog is considered one of the most toxic animals on Earth.

A single specimen measuring two inches has enough venom to kill ten grown men. They live within a tiny plot of rain forest on the Pacific coast of Colombia. The only natural predator of the frog is Leimadophis epinephelus, a snake that has developed a resistance to the its poison.

PTI