The three men also risk a fine of £12,500 (€15,067 / $20,746)

Mar 28, 2014 20:16 GMT  ·  By

Three men now risk being sentenced to spending one year behind bars, and paying a £12,500 (€15,067 / $20,746) fine, and all because of some 1,100 mutilated frogs that were found in their possession.

The three men are all native to Landeyrat in Cantal, France, and, according to the police officers who arrested them, they are all members of a poaching gang.

Unlike the ivory and rhino horn poachers who are keeping conservationists, rangers, and forest officials fairly busy these days, these three French men are guilty of chopping off the limbs of illegally caught frogs and then selling them. Daily Mail informs that, presently, frog legs are considered to be a delicacy in France's Auvergne region. These animal body parts are so sought after in this part of the world that it sometimes happens that local chefs pay up to £7 (€8.43 / $11.61) for ten pairs.

In case anyone was wondering, it would appear that the best way to serve frog legs is to season them with garlic and parsley, the same source details.

To put things into perspective, it must be said that, according to some estimates, about 100 million pairs of frog legs are consumed by people in France on a yearly basis. Thanks to a ban on hunting such creatures that was instituted over 20 years ago, most of the frog legs that the French consume are imported into this country.

However, given how popular such animal body parts are, it should not come as a surprise that, in the aftermath of this ban, illegal trading activities involving frog legs pretty much boomed.

Talking to the press, police officers in France said that what got the three French men from Landeyrat in trouble was the fact that the frogs they were trading belonged to endangered species, and had been illegally removed from the country's wetlands.

As proof that these men were not just selling frog legs as a hobby, police officers found them to be in possession of not only amphibians locked inside cages, but also professional traps. “It’s a first on this scale in Cantal, with this type of equipment and people who are clearly regulars at this. We found protected species and non-protected ones,” Major Patrick Soubrier said in a statement.

According to the police officers who helped catch the three poachers and bring them to justice, this particular gang was one of the most prolific and well organized in the country. “They were harvesting whatever they could,” said Major Patrick Soubrier.