The Frog Sanctuary
My frog sanctuary came into existence the summer of 1996.
Long before I had a perimeter fence put in place on my property… some of the neighborhood kids would come to the creek that I have to see what critters were there. Frogs were the main critters, though there were other not-so-friendly ones. Luckily, no one ever got bitten or hurt by snakes or others things.
This particular summer… a few kids decided to kill the frogs in my creek. When news reached my ears… I rushed out to see for myself and they had, in fact, killed many. I was furious! I marched the offenders straight to homes and told their parents what they had done. Each parent was apologetic, but the damage was done. A bright idea hit me… we’ll make this a learning experience and the frog sanctuary was born!
For the rest of the summer… the kids came and cleared the debris (old sticks, large rocks) and even brought frogs they had found around their own places. They also brought little wooden houses and froggy statuary… anything that they thought would make the frogs more comfortable.
Anytime during the next few years… you could find one of those kids bringing their friends or family members to see “OUR” frog sanctuary… and the story of how it came to be was obviously told to many.
Years later, the oldest of those kids… brought his own child to my door… asking for permission to show the frog sanctuary. Talk about smiling! It truly stuck with him and to beat it all… he now works at the Knoxville Zoo!
The statues and little houses gave way to time… but the sanctuary remains. As long as I live… all froggies of any type will always have a safe haven.
© 2008 T. S. Evans
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