BERLIN - Whats making toads puff up and explode in northern Europe? More
than 1,000 toad corpses have been found at a pond in an upscale
neighborhood in Hamburg and over the border in Denmark after bloating
and bursting.

Its left onlookers baffled. The pond water in Hamburg has been tested,
but its quality is no better or worse than elsewhere in the city. The
toad remains have been checked for a virus or bacterium, but none has
been found.

One German scientist studying the splattered amphibian remains has a
theory: Hungry crows are pecking out their livers.

³The crows are clever,² said Frank Mutschmann, a Berlin veterinarian who
collected and tested specimens at the Hamburg pond. ³They learn quickly
from watching other crows how to get the livers.²

Based on the wounds, Mutschmann said, it appears that a bird pecks into
the toad with its beak between the amphibians chest and abdominal
cavity, and the toad puffs itself up as a natural defense mechanism.

But, because the liver is missing and theres a hole in the toads body,
the blood vessels and lungs burst and the other organs ooze out, he said.

As gruesome as it sounds, it isnt actually that unusual, he said.

³Its not unique ‹ its in a city area, and that makes it spectacular,²
Mutschmann said. ³Of course, its something very dramatic.²

There have also been reports of exploded toads in a pond near Laasby in
central Jutland in Denmark.

Horror scene
Local environmental workers in Hamburg have described it as a scene out
of a horror or science fiction movie, with the bloated frogs agonizing
and twitching for several minutes, inflating like balloons before they
suddenly burst.

³Its horrible,² biologist Heidi Mayerhoefer was quoted as telling the
daily Hamburger Morgenpost.

³The toads burst, the entrails slide out. But the animal isnt
immediately dead ‹ they keep struggling for several minutes.²

Hamburgs Institute for Hygiene and the Environment regularly tests water
quality in the city and has found no evidence the toads were diseased.
The institute also ruled out a fungus brought in from South America was
infecting the toads.

Other theories have been that horses on a nearby track might have
infected the amphibians with a virus, or even that the toads are
committing suicide to save others from overpopulation.

Could hungry crows be a reasonable answer?

³We havent seen that. It might be, it might not be,² said institute
spokeswoman Janne Kloepper. ³Its speculation,² until its observed, she
added.

In the meantime, officials in Hamburg have advised residents to stay
away from the pond, which German tabloids have dubbed ³the death pool.²