A STATE FROG? LEGISLATOR "JUMPS TO CONCLUSIONS"

By Miriam Raftery

April 7, 2014 (San Diego's East County) - Mark Twain’s classic short story, The Celebrating Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, told the tale of a gambler in the Gold Rush era who won a bet by loading up a competitor’s frog with buckshot.  The star of that tale, California’s red legged frog, was made famous—and the town of Angel’s Camp re-creates the fictional even each year.

Now, Assemblyman Perez from Coachella wants to jump on the bandwagon and commemorate the now-endangered red legged frog by naming it California’s state amphibian.  He got the idea after elementary school students researched the frog’s colorful history. 

If the bill succeeds, the red legged frog will join California’s other state symbols including the now-extinct Califiornia grizzly bear,  the grey whale, the desert tortoise, the California golden poppy, and the redwood tree.