Dozens of tiny frogs named after Charles Darwin have landed in London after being rescued from a killer fungus in Chile.
The peculiar, pointy-nosed southern Darwin’s frog once thrived in the Parque Tantauco forests in southern Chile.
But it is now plagued by the devastating chytrid fungus spread by humans, and their numbers have plummeted by 90% in just one year.
In a race to save the remaining creatures, a team of conservationists led by London Zoo launched a rescue mission to bring some back to the capital for a breeding and research programme.
In 1834, Darwin was the first to describe the tiny amphibians, which weigh less than 2.0g and are under 3cm long.
The species is unusual because it is the male frog who becomes pregnant and carries the eggs in its vocal sac, protecting them as they grow into tadpoles and froglets.
Scientists spent five painstaking days in October combing the Chilean forest for the well camouflaged frogs.
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The team tracked them down the thanks to their “unmistakable, distinctive whistle, reminiscent of a songbird”, Andres Valenzuela-Sanchez, project lead and Institute of Zoology research fellow, told Sky News.
They then checked the animals were fungus-free before sending them on their long journey.
The frogs were sent on a six-hour boat ride, 15-hour drive to capital Santiago and a final flight to Heathrow, all in custom climate-controlled transport boxes.
Image: Conservationist prepares bio-secure environment for the frogs. Pic: London Zoo
Image: Endangered Darwin’s frog. Pic: London Zoo
Mr Valenzuela-Sanchez said the journey was “no small feat”, and involved “meticulous planning and more than a few sleepless nights”.
All 53 frogs arrived in good health and some even started making their whistling calls straight away, suggesting they were happy in their new surroundings, said ZSL, the conservation charity that runs London Zoo.
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ZSL hopes the animals, which are on loan from the Chilean government, will reproduce at the zoo, so their offspring can be reintroduced in Chile.
Ben Tapley, London Zoo’s curator of amphibians, said having a population there will “not only safeguard their survival but can also raise awareness of the urgent conservation challenges they face”.
The southern Darwin’s frog must be protected because it is a “flagship species” for its endangered ecosystem – the Southern Hemisphere’s temperate forest – and because it sustains other species, like birds and snakes that feed on them, said Mr Valenzuela-Sanchez.
The fungus that threatens the frog has been spread around the globe by people, already wiping out 90 species and driving declines in a further 500, according to ZSL.
“While we had hoped to bring Mr Doughty’s family better news, we are thankful to be able to provide them with some closure,” said special agent Kristin Rehler.
“This discovery is the direct result of our partnerships and special agents from FBI Jacksonville’s Cellular Analysis Survey Team (CAST), who were relentless in their efforts to narrow down potential search locations.”
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has said Runcorn needs a new Labour MP after Mike Amesbury was jailed for beating up a constituent – and will keep his £91,000 MPs salary in prison.
She told Wilfred Froston Sky News Breakfast: “Whether it is resigning or through recall, everyone’s clear – the people of Runcorn deserve better representation, and that would come by having a newly elected MP.”
Amesbury, who has been an MP since 2017, remains as the MP for Runcorn and Helsby after being jailed for 10 weeks on Monday.
He had at an earlier hearing pleaded guilty to assaulting Paul Fellows, 45 by punching him to the ground and hitting him five more times in Frodsham, Cheshire, after a night out last October.
He has not resigned, despite calls for him to do so.
The 55-year-old MP will keep receiving his £91,000 salary while in prison because parliamentary rules state a recall petition, which kickstarts a by-election, can only happen once an appeal period for a custodial sentence of a year or less is exhausted.
Amesbury’s lawyer stated in court he would be appealing the 10-week sentence, of which the MP will serve four weeks in HMP Altcourse in Liverpool.
There is also no mechanism to stop pay for MPs, unless they are suspended from the House of Commons, which has not yet happened for Amesbury.
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Ms Cooper added: “It’s completely unacceptable what has happened. No matter who you are. No one is above the law.”
On whether the government is considering changing the law so MPs who receive a prison sentence can no longer serve as an MP, Ms Cooper said: “I think these are matters, obviously, for the parliamentary authorities and processes that is separate from the decisions government make.
“But we are clear we need a new representation in Runcorn.”
Conservative shadow minister Victoria Atkins told Sky News the public and MPs have been “disgusted” by Amesbury keeping his job and called for the rules to be changed.
“I find it extraordinary that someone can claim their salary from their prison cell when their job is to be here in parliament, representing their constituents,” she said.
“I think the government needs to look at this and we will look at these measures very, very carefully, whatever they bring forward.
“I share the public’s disgust that a Labour MP is sitting in prison, serving a prison sentence because he beat up a constituent.”
After the judge left the courtroom in Chester on Monday, following sentencing, Amesbury’s lawyer asked for him to return and requested bail while he appealed the sentence.
Judge Tan Ikram returned to the court, sat down, paused briefly and said: “Application refused.”
The head of NHS England has announced she is standing down.
Amanda Pritchard was the first woman to take on the role in 2021, having previously served as NHS England’s chief operating officer, and before that, the former head of Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.
Her decision to step down comes weeks after MPs on the cross-party Commons public accounts and health and social care committees accused her of lacking the “drive and dynamism” to radically reform the service.
It has been a “hugely difficult decision for me to stand down”, she said in a statement on Tuesday.
“I believe now is the right time – with the NHS making continued progress in our recovery, and with the foundations firmly in place to deliver the 10 Year Health Plan.”
She said it had been “an enormous privilege to lead the NHS in England through what has undoubtedly been the most difficult period in its history”.
“The NHS is full of extraordinary people, who do extraordinary things every day for patients,” she said, adding: “I am confident they will continue to achieve incredible things for patients now, and into the future.”
Image: Ms Pritchard giving evidence to MPs in the House of Commons earlier this month. Pic: PA
MPs on the health and social care committee earlier this month said they were disappointed and frustrated by the “lengthy and diffuse answers” Ms Pritchard and other officials gave them under questioning.
Last week, she admitted “we’re not all brilliant performers at committee hearings” as she was challenged on the issue on BBC Breakfast.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said Ms Pritchard could be “enormously proud” of her tenure.
He said: “Amanda can be enormously proud of the leadership she has given in the face of the biggest health emergency for our country in modern history, as well as steering NHS England during turbulent political waters and six secretaries of state in her time as chief executive.
“She has led with integrity and unwavering commitment.”
NHS England said that having discussed everything with Mr Streeting in recent months – and now that the NHS has “turned a corner on recovery from the pandemic and the foundations are in place to make the necessary changes to the centre to best support the wider NHS” – Ms Pritchard had “decided now is the right time to stand down”.
Sir James Mackey will take over as “transition” chief executive from the first of April on a secondment basis, it said.
He is the chief executive of Newcastle Hospitals Foundation Trust and national director of elective recovery.
Ms Pritchard, who is married with three children and studied modern history at St Anne’s College, Oxford, was also deputy chief executive at Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust.