natural reserve
Klaas Heufer-Umlauf goes toad hunting in Saarland
Klaas Heufer-Umlauf is on the road when it comes to nature conservation. Photo: Daniel Karmann/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
On their way to the spawning waters, migratory amphibians have to overcome many obstacles and survive some dangers. Klaas Heufer-Umlauf wants to help here.
TV presenter Klaas Heufer-Umlauf (38) will go toad-hunting in Saarland at the beginning of next week. Heufer-Umlauf’s management in Berlin confirmed that he would help in an action by conservationists to bring migrating toads, frogs and newts across a street.
Saarbrücken Mayor Barbara Meyer-Gluche (Greens) invited the moderator after he joked about the search for “amphibian helpers” in Saarbrücken in his “Baywatch Berlin” podcast.
When invited, Meyer-Gluche promised that she would donate one euro to nature conservation for every toad that Heufer-Umlauf carried across the street, and two euros for every newt. The two “Baywatch Berlin” colleagues Jakob Lundt and Thomas Schmitt, who comes from Homburg in Saarland, should also be on board. The “Bild” newspaper had previously reported on it.
“We’re happy if we can attract even more young people to nature conservation,” said Julia Michely, Saarland state chairwoman of the German Nature Conservation Union. The care of amphibious fences on roads is not possible without many volunteers. The fences are intended to protect toads, frogs and newts from being run over by cars on their way back from their winter quarters to their spawning grounds.
“We have several fences in almost every community in Saarland. It’s a lot of work,” Michely said. When the migrating amphibians arrived at the fences, they would hop along them to avoid the obstacle. Buckets were buried behind the fence at regular intervals, into which the animals fell. Conservationists – and now also Heufer-Umlauf – then bring the toads that have fallen in across the street.