Terry, one of my coworkers, peeked his head into the doorway to my office. Looking askance, he asked me if we have a “frog problem” here in Michigan. I glanced away from my computer screen and raised an eyebrow. I told him that we do have quite a few frogs in Michigan, but I wouldn’t consider it a “problem.” I then pressed a little further, asking why he wanted to know. Apparently, as he went into the men’s bathroom and sat down on the commode in one of the stalls, he realized that…he wasn’t alone. There was a large frog near the edge of the stall facing out into the bathroom!
I was very surprised, but I grabbed a couple of paper towels to hopefully help me catch the little guy. When I got there, he wasn’t moving much and he was covered in hair, black gunk, and things that I can only guess at. He was about four inches long, and his skin looked very dry (for a frog). I was actually worried that he might be dead. It turned out that he was breathing a little bit, but I definitely didn’t like the look of his skin, especially since it was covered in gunk.
It was not difficult catching him at all. I put the paper towel over him slowly, and he barely moved. I gently wrapped the paper towel around him, leaving a spot where he could see. Then, I took him outside.
We have a pond fairly near to the office, so I went there to release him into the wild. As I said before, he did not appear to be moving much and was quite dirty. I unwrapped him a few inches from the water and then gently lowered my hand (paper towel and all) until all but his head was submerged. I gently moved my hand back and forth to dislodge some of the hair and nasty dirt that covered him. The water was cold as well, so I took him out of the water for a little while and let him sit in the sun. Then, I lowered him in again, and this time he rearranged one of his front legs. That had been the most I had seen him move thus far. After a couple more dips in the water, most of the gunk was off of him and he seemed to be doing better. He started opening his eyes a little bit and blinking them. At that point, I put him gently into the shallows and removed my hand. There, I watched him for a while, and he slowly seemed to acclimate himself to the pond. He took a few feeble steps with his large back feet and then stayed perfectly still for a while. Then, he crawled a little bit further between some reeds.
Since, I was at work and on-the-clock, I reluctantly went back to work. I wanted to protect the little guy until I was assured that he’d be safe. I came back an hour or so later to check on him to make sure he was okay, and he was gone.
My only thought is that somehow, the poor guy got caught in the sewers and swam all the way up to our little commode. I’m glad no one was there when he jumped out because that would have scared the all the living light of day out of me, that’s for sure! I certainly hope he’s happy and free in the pond nearby.
).
