Hundreds of common toads found dead in Scotland were
dismembered鈥攑resumably to satisfy the demand from restaurants for frogs鈥�
legs.
Up to 1000 carcasses were found along the River Esk, near Dumfries, in April
last year. At first, it was thought that they had been eaten by rats. But in
this week鈥檚 Veterinary Record (vol 142, p 259), veterinary pathologists
led by Andrew Cunningham of the Institute of Zoology in London say they were cut
open and the hindlimbs removed by a 鈥渄egloving action鈥�, leaving only the
skin.