Once celebrated as Dominica’s culinary treasure, the Mountain Chicken, known locally as the Crapaud, is now teetering on the edge of extinction. What was once a beloved national dish, a symbol on the island’s Coat of Arms, and an emblem for prominent Dominican institutions like the National Bank of Dominica, has now become a rare and vanishing species.
This dire situation is a stark example of one of the quickest declines of a wild animal ever recorded, as biologists and conservationists describe it. The precipitous fall of the Mountain Chicken began in 2002, with the introduction of a deadly fungal disease, the Amphibian Chytrid, to the island. Within just 18 months, this invasive disease wiped out at least 80 percent of the Mountain Chicken population. The frog, once an audible presence across Dominica with its distinctive croaking, now teetered on the brink of extinction. In response, the Dominican government imposed a hunting ban on the frog, hoping to preserve the dwindling population. However, the Crapaud faced other natural calamities, including the devastating impact of Hurricane Maria.
Andrew Cunningham, head of wildlife epidemiology for the Zoological Society London (ZSL), said, “This is a species facing imminent extinction in the wild, yet it was in a healthy state only a couple of decades ago. Its fate sends us a very clear warning about the dangers facing wildlife on Earth today.” The decline of the Mountain Chicken, he says, is nothing short of astonishing.
The only other island where the Mountain Chicken could still be found was Montserrat. However, despite warnings from scientists about the need for strict measures to contain the spread of the disease, these efforts did not succeed. The Chytrid fungus eventually reached the frogs in Montserrat in 2009. Fortunately, some of these mountain chicken frogs were rescued before the disease reached them and are now kept in bio-secure enclosures in several European zoos, including London’s. These frogs, unfortunately, do not appear resistant to the chytrid fungus.
There was a glimmer of hope when a handful of frogs with natural resistance to the disease were discovered. But then, in 2017, Hurricane Maria struck Dominica, the strongest hurricane in the island’s recorded history. It decimated the already fragile frog population, reducing their numbers by over 90%, pushing the population back down to double digits.
While the future of the Mountain Chicken remains uncertain, there’s still optimism. Jeanelle Brisbane, wildlife ecologist with the Forestry, Wildlife and Parks Division in Dominica and founder of WildDominique, said, “We’ve managed to keep the mountain chicken frog alive and able to survive the fungal disease for over 20 years now, thanks to the collaboration that has gone into saving this species. We should not forget that. If we can keep that up for just a bit longer, with the right resources, it is possible to turn their fate around. Certainly, we are not giving up hope.”
Andrew Cunningham agrees, stating, “We still have a couple of years to try to get something done before the mountain chicken frog becomes extinct in the wild. It’s a tight situation.” Dominica’s Mountain Chicken is still fighting for survival, and efforts to save this unique species continue.
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