Frogs in the Estonian capital can hop safely to their annual breeding grounds this spring as traffic is temporarily banned from a city street.
Officials said the thoroughfare in Tallinn’s Haabersti district crossed one of the largest migration corridors for frogs in the Baltic state.
“The purpose of the restriction is to ensure a safe migration route for protected amphibians from wintering places to breeding ponds,” said Oleg Siljanov, a city official.
About 15,000 frogs a year are usually saved from being crushed under cars by volunteers who help them across roads and motorways as part of the country’s “frogs on the road” programme.
But coronavirus restrictions have made it impossible to carry out the frog rescue campaign in Estonia this year, said Siljanov. The street will be closed to private vehicles for two weeks between 9pm and 6am. He said he hoped locals would support the plan.
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Environmentalists and media outlets have asked motorists to be on the watch out for frogs on the move or even avoid travelling between dusk and dawn, when the frogs usually migrate. An app to allow people to indicate crossing points throughout Estonia has also been developed.
“Estonia is quite a boggy country, so its roads often end up passing through wetlands,” said Aliide Naylor, a British expert on the Baltics.
Nature conservation areas cover about 20 per cent of Estonia’s territory. Estonia has 12 species of frog, toad and newt. All of them are protected by law.