The Continuing Legend of the
Meeps Island Flying Frog
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Part 5 . . . in which things become official . . .
Our story switches to Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States of America.
That's where you'll find the real-life offices of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, as well as its real-life officers. And it's where (in our story) Melody Roulet and the Friends of the Flying Frog take the results of their years of study in the little patch of swamp on Meeps Island. They go there because they want to ask the Fish and Wildlife Service to put the Meeps Island Flying Frog on the list of Endangered Species.
Now, not just anybody can ask the Fish and Wildlife people to do this. You've got to have actual scientists doing actual studies on actual animals, and those studies have to actually prove to the Fish and Wildlife Service that the animal you're interested in is actually in danger of becoming extinct. Fortunately, since we're inventing this story ourselves, we can have all that. Melody Roulet and her fellow scientists show their reports to the Fish and Wildlife Service people, who are duly impressed. They agree to consider the matter.
Part 6...in which
things get intense...
While the Fish and Wildlife Service people are considering the matter, the story of Melody Roulet's rediscovery of the Flying Frog gets around. Lots of people feel sorry for the Flying Frog and get bumper stickers that say "Save the Flying Frog," and "Support Your Local Airborne Amphibian" and things like that.
But other people feel differently. See, when an animal is put on the Endangered Species List, there are lots of rules that go along with it. These rules are intended to protect the animal and its habitat so it can make a recovery. For example, it's against
the law to kill or collect an Endangered animal. Sometimes it's against the law to build things in or near its habitat, too. The people who run the Meeps Island Water Arcade say that if the Flying Frog is placed on the Endangered Species List, they'll have to close down the Water Arcade to keep from disturbing the Frog's habitat. This makes all the people who like to go to the arcade, as well as all the people who work there, very unhappy. They get bumper stickers that say things like, "The Next Time You Want To Have Fun, Try Sliding Down a Frog."
Nothing's ever simple, is it?
Part 7 . . . in which we get results . . .
We only need
and a measure or two of music here, because not much time has to pass before we come to the exciting climax of the story.
Here's what happens: The Fish and Wildlife people decide to put the Flying Frog on the Endangered Species List. Melody Roulet and her fellow scientists figure out a recovery plan for the Flying Frog. Then they sit down with the Water Arcade people and the Fish and Wildlife people and the Friends of the Flying Frog people, all together, and they work out a plan . . . a great plan . . . a terrific plan.
The Water Arcade people decide to restore the swamp. They build big, transparent tubes all through the swamp so people can walk around in it and see the Flying Frog without getting poison ivy or fly bites. This new attraction is called Swamp World.
Part 8 . . . in which it all works out . . .
When a species is put on the Endangered Species List, the Fish and Wildlife Service people go out every five years to study it and see how it's doing. If it's still in trouble, they leave it on the list. If it's doing better, they may decide to call it "Threatened" instead of Endangered. If it's doing really well, they may take it off the list altogether and call it "Recovered."
It's six years later -- 1989. The Frog is doing really well. The Water Arcade is doing really well, too,
and Swamp World is a major deal. So the Frog is downgraded to Threatened. More fog, more music.
Now it's 1994. Swamp World is a huge success. Flying Frog products are everywhere: toys, coffee mugs, T-shirts, video specials, cartoon characters, you name it. And the Flying Frog is fully recovered. The Fish and Wildlife Service people remove it from the Endangered Species List. And on the cover of Natural History magazine there's a picture of a white-haired lady gently holding a Flying Frog. Who is she? You guessed it.
Special Note: Our story worked out pretty well, didn't it? In real life, sometimes things work out pretty well, and sometimes they don't. All of the animals featured in this web site are Endangered or Threatened. Which ones seem to be headed for happy endings? Which ones don't? You can find out by doing some research in your library, or by visiting the zoo. You can also find answers elsewhere on this site. Check our links page for some other sites.
This story written by Jesse Boggs
Illustrations by Brian Morrissey
Designed for print by Karen Davidson
Adapted to the web by Kevin Walker
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