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Animal rights group hopping mad over contest (5/30/2002)

A national animal rights organization wants to put an end to a 74-year-old California tradition of frog jumping contests and the source of one of America’s most famous folklores.

The Animal Protection Institute (API) recently issued a news release asking for the Calaveras County Fair and Jumping Frog Jubilee to be cancelled. The fair, which is held in Angels Camp, California, has hosted the frog jump competition since the 1920’s. The competition attracts hundreds of participants who compete for the $5,000 grand prize.

It is this contest that inspired Mark Twain to write one of his most famous short stories “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.” Apparently, the animal rightists have also been inspired, but in a negative way.

The API is spreading its animal rights message claiming that, “Like circuses, cockfighting and greyhound racing, frog jumping promotes the message that animals exist purely to entertain us.” It describes conditions that the frogs are kept in before the event as “certainly cruel and inhumane.”

What’s next? Maybe they’ll attack the re-release of Black Beauty or Lassie in syndication?

I think Mark Twain best described this situation when he said, “Get the facts first…you can distort them later.”

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