Hello Everyone,

Well, the good news is that salamander chytrid fungus still has not (yet) been confirmed in the United States. But now, it’s more important than ever that you keep your eyes and ears to the ground to help make sure it stays this way. Over 100 new dead salamander records have been added to this project over the past year, and a few rapid response disease surveys were performed by local authorities, thanks to you!

Salamanders are beginning to wake up in big numbers again now, and it’s so important that you help me share this project and remind people to report any animals that look sick or dead to this project page (everything except for roadkill or obvious predation by other animals).

Here’s a new short video to help explain this project. If you could watch and share it, this would be a big help for me: https://youtu.be/nsHPpfgo7Og

Also, please remember that this project is not just for the United States. Records of dead salamanders from anywhere in the world are requested. So far, we have received records from the USA, Central America, Canada, Europe, and a few from Asia. We do not yet have any records from South America.

Lastly, please remember that even though this is called “salamander chytrid fungus”, it has been discovered that frogs in the pet trade might also be bringing this pathogen into the United States. So although USFWS has banned the import of certain salamanders, all frogs are still allowed to be imported and sold without any disease testing. I’m very worried about this, and this is why we need to remain on high alert for dead salamanders.

Thank you for helping me raise awareness and hopefully prevent a salamander extinction crisis in North and South America.

If you have any questions, please contact me at DeadSalamanders@gmail.com

Have a great day & keep enjoying nature!
Jonathan Kolby

Hi Everyone,

First, I'd like to thank all the new members who have joined this project over the past few months. I appreciate your help tracking down possible signs of salamander chytrid fungus.

I recently produced a short video to help explain the purpose of this project. I hope you like it! You can watch it here: https://youtu.be/X6Pr8hzkiEE

Please feel free to share this video on your social media platforms to help educate more people about this important conservation issue!

And once again, it's that time of year when salamanders will start stirring. Please keep your eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary! A quick photo and a note about the date, location, & number of dead or sickly salamanders you found may become highly valuable information.

If you have any questions, please contact me at DeadSalamanders@gmail.com

Have a great day & keep enjoying the outdoors!
Jonathan Kolby
www.FrogRescue.com

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for participating in this project to help track down salamander chytrid fungus!

As the weather begins to warm, please keep your eyes peeled for sick or dead salamanders when you're out for a hike. As I mentioned earlier, a quick phone picture and a simple note about the date, location, & number of salamanders affected is all you need to help in a BIG way!

If you have questions about anything, feel free to contact me at DeadSalamanders@gmail.com

Have a great day & enjoy the outdoors!
Jonathan

Hi Everyone!

As you might have heard, USFWS recently published an interim rule to list 201 salamander species as injurious species under the Lacey Act to help prevent the introduction of salamander chytrid fungus into the USA. More info about this here: bit.ly/1RNfTow

Before this action is made final, USFWS is asking for public comments, expressing why you support or disagree with this action. Your comments are due tomorrow, March 14 at this site: 1.usa.gov/1SLcgkF

I'm going to go submit mine right now!

Regards,
Jonathan

Hello Everyone!

I would like to thank everyone for their participation in this project so far! Because of your help, we are accumulating some really valuable information that may help save salamanders from the Bsal fungus!

I have two important project updates:

1. If you find any dead newts or salamanders in the State of California, please ALSO enter your records on the California Department of Fish and Wildlife website here: http://www.dfg.ca.gov/wildlife/wil/

On this website, you will find a link to the State's mortality report form. They would really appreciate your help! https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Laboratories/Wildlife-Investigations/Monitoring/Mortality-Report

1. As many of you may have heard, the US Fish and Wildlife Service recently catalyzed a formal response to help protect salamanders in the USA from the risk of Bsal introduction by the pet trade. You can read more about this here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/big-win-salamanders-word-caution-jonathan-kolby

More updates soon!
Jonathan

If you find a dead or sick salamander in the wild, please take pictures and upload them to this iNaturalist project as soon as possible! Here are some important things to remember:

1. Species identification is NOT necessary. If you cannot identify the type of
   salamander because they are too long dead, or simply because you don’t
   know salamanders, that’s ok! All dead salamander photos are important.

2. If your salamander is not dead, but looks like it has weird skin sores or marks,
   we also want you to take a photo and report these.

3. Your photos don’t have to be pretty and you don’t need a fancy camera! Feel
   free to use the camera on your phone. A blurry picture is better than no picture.

4. Record this simple information along with your photo:
   a. Date
   b. Location
   c. Number of dead salamanders you saw (i.e. if you find a pond with 20 dead
   
   salamanders, you might only take a picture of a few, but can report 20)
   d. Species (your best guess is great, but it’s ok if you have no idea--just call it
   
   a salamander)
   e. Suspected cause of death (i.e. was it hit by a car, stepped on, partially
   eaten by an animal? etc.). Please always make a comment in the
   
   description box about this observation. If you tell us there was no obvious
   reason why it was dead, this is very helpful because we can rule out non-
   disease factors like roadkill, predation, etc.

Thank you for being part of this project! If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us at DeadSalamanders@gmail.com