Legality of Lithobates catesbeianus in the UK.

[Sebby]

Hi All,
sorry if I've missed this but does anyone know the current legal status of keeping American bullfrogs in the UK?
Everybody "knows" they were banned but all the info I see on DEFRA sites doest seem to say much other than they are not allowed to be released into the wild. Basically the same as ALL non native species? The PDF they have on them just says this and the main page of the Wildlife and Countryside act doesn’t name them by species or in section 9 of already introduced species.

England and Wales - GB non-native species secretariat

I heard of a shop in England recently having some albinos for sale they had brought from a European supplier, I talked to the owner who assured me there was no legal issue with them, and if they hadn’t been soo wildly expensive I would probably have brought one.
Any information gratefully received but please backed up with law, links or legislation.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Mark]

They are not listed in Schedule 9 of the WCA which restricts sale or transportation. Funnily enough all of the frogs listed in schedule 9 are still readily available in the UK pet trade. Good to see that one being adhered to...

Section 14 makes it an offense to release non-native species into the wild or keep them in such a way as to risk release i.e. In a garden pond.

I kept a male bullfrog that I raised from a tadpole once. It was a terrible mistake. It was very skittish and made a sound that resembled a constipated cow all night long.

 

[caleb]

The recent 'ban' was an EU import restriction, meaning that American bullfrogs can't be imported into Europe from elsewhere.

In the UK, there's no restriction on importing them from within Europe, on trading them, or on keeping them (to the best of my knowledge).

The legal basis is EU Regulation 338/97:
EUR-Lex - 31997R0338 - EN

which was implemented by the Control of Trade in Endangered Species (Enforcement) Regulations 1997:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1997/1372/made

R. catesbeiana was added later as a species whose importation has been 'suspended' by an amending regulation. I'm not sure exactly which one first listed it, but it's included on the latest one, EU regulation 578/2013:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2013:169:0001:0021:EN:PDF

 

[Chinadog]

I agree with Mark, I made the mistake of raising 2 of them from tadpoles. Both of mine were female but they still made the constipated cow noise all night! They never lost their fear of people and would fly into a panic if i surprised them. Even in a 6' aquarium they would still hit the sides and top regularly and hurt their noses.