Bristol Zoo Garden's Curator Uses His Motorcyle To Help Frogs

A reptile keeper at Bristol Zoo Gardens is taking on the challenge of travelling from Bristol Zoo to John O’Groats on his motorbike for a cause close to his heart.

Tim Skelton, the Zoo’s curator of reptiles, will cover more than 1,350 miles in less than two days to raise money for Bristol Zoo Gardens’ Year of the Frog campaign.

The 2008 Year of the Frog is a global campaign to raise awareness of the extinction threat facing amphibians in the UK and all over the world.

As part the campaign Bristol Zoo is raising money to set up a new biosecure breeding unit at the Zoo for two critically endangered frog species: the golden mantella and the lemur leaf frog. This ‘frog sanctuary’ will allow the frogs to breed and increase their numbers in captivity and create a safe assurance population.

As well as raising vital funds for the sanctuary, Tim hopes to raise awareness of the amphibian crisis. He said: “Riding all the way to John O’Groats and back will be a huge undertaking – I’ve never driven so far in one go. But it will be a huge achievement and a great way of combining my two passions – motorbikes and amphibians!”

Amphibians, which includes frogs, toads, newts, salamanders and caecilians, are all severely affected by factors including habitat loss, pollution, climate change, competition from introduced species, pesticides and a deadly fungal skin disease which is sweeping through areas of tropical South America and other parts of the world causing a wave of extinctions.

There are around 6,000 known amphibian species, of which one third are now listed as threatened by the Amphibian Specialist Group of the World Conservation Union.

Bristol Zoo is home to 10 species of amphibian, of which five are endangered or critically endangered.

The distance from Bristol Zoo to John O’Groats is around 670 miles. Once Tim reaches his destination he will rest for the night before getting back on his bike to make the 12-15 hours journey home the following morning.

Tim is now appealing for people to help raise money to set up a new frog sanctuary at the Zoo. You can sponsor Tim online at www.everyclick.com/timskelton or by phoning Lizy Jones, at Bristol Zoo, on 0117 973 7329.