Would you like some frogs with your nose hair trimmer?
August 25th, 2009 by admin
Brookstone is a retailer known for products you can’t find anywhere else, but its latest gift idea is a dud.
The “Frog-O-Sphere,” available at Brookstone stores across Florida, is the fancy name given to a package that includes a small plastic aquarium, two African dwarf frogs, one snail, some gravel and a bamboo plant. The frogs are marketed as low-maintenance pets: “Simply feed the frogs 2 pellets each 2 times per week, and change the water 2 times per year. That’s it!” Yours for only $39.95.
African dwarf frogs belong in the rivers of an African forest, not inside a shopping mall. In addition to our concerns for the welfare of the frogs (at a Brookstone store we visited in West Palm Beach, a sign in front of the Frog-O-Sphere display pleaded with customers, “Please don’t shake”), we’re concerned that these frogs may end up dumped in Florida ponds and canals.
African dwarf frogs can live to be over 5 years old. It’s doubtful that very many of the frogs purchased at Brookstone will live that long in their small, plastic prisons. But what will happen to the few frogs who do survive, after the novelty of the Frog-O-Sphere wears off? What will parents do once kids lose interest? Brookstone won’t let customers return the frogs to the store. There are four species of nonnative amphibians established in Florida. The African dwarf frog might just become number five.
You can help.
Contact Brookstone and urge them to remove the Frog-O-Sphere from its stores.
Contact:Phone: (800) 846-3000
E-mail: customerservice@brookstone.com
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