Frog Lovers Protest Jubilee

An animal rights group is hopping mad at the famed Calaveras County Jumping Frog Jubilee. The Animal Protection Institute says the jubilee and similar contests are cruel and inhumane. They say frogs shouldn’t be taken from their native habitat for human entertainment. The Sacramento-based institute is encouraging other outraged frog lovers to write to the annual event in California’s gold country. It features a frog-jumping contest invented in Mark Twain’s classic 1865 short story, “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.” Longtime Calaveras County Fair manager Buck King says the frogs are treated with respect and all are returned to their homes in ponds and streams when the competition ends. There are generally as many as three thousand frogs competing in the contest, which began in 1928 to celebrate the paving of the city’s streets.