How to prevent wildlife drowning in your pool

Ornate Burrowing Frog exiting the swimming pool at night, via the Frog Log wildlife escape ramp at Jarowair.

Swimming pools are a lot of fun for humans, but they can be deadly for wildlife.  We installed an in-ground pool here at Jarowair a few years ago and along with fencing for humans safety, we were aware of the need to ensure wildlife would also be safe also, should they venture into the pool.


In our area, as a wildlife carer, I’ve heard dreadful stories of pool owners finding dead bandicoot’s, possums, ducklings, lizards, frogs and even koalas in their pools. Wildlife will often look for the closest water source for drinking and come into strife after falling in the pool, or finding it impossible to get out. One particular example is that of ducklings, whose parents lead them to the pool for their first swimming outing, however they find they can't fly out like their parents can and they get sucked into the filter basket with no way to escape. Most pools have a high lip and slippery sides making escape impossible for the unfortunate animals who have fallen in.


Once our pool was installed, we found that after the first dose of rain, we immediately had frogs in the pool at night.  We could hear them calling out and it was a constant effort scooping them out of the pool at all hours of the night, and then checking for them again in the morning. I had read an article about a wildlife floating bridge that allowed for animals to escape, however most of the articles I could find that included products for sale were American, and it was challenging to find a product available in Australia. I eventually found an Australian supplier for a device called the Frog Log. This is a floating canvas semi circle pad with a gauze edge that floats on the water surface on the side of the pool. It has a gauze and canvas arm/bridge that has a weight section on the end that sits on the pool coping tiles or edge. The weighted end is filled by adding either pebbles or sand to as the sandbag weight up hold it in place.


While we were waiting for the frog log to arrive in the post, we experimented with a couple of ideas including draping a rope across the pool, tied to the pool fence on each side. This was semi- successful and saved two baby bearded dragons who were able to climb onto it, but it was too flimsy for the frogs to utilise. We toyed with other ideas  such as a fibreglass ramp that can be screwed to the pool coping tiles, but this didn’t seem practical for pool cleaning and usage for us.


As soon as the frog log arrived it was an astounding success. No more saving of frogs and lizards in the pool required. We have no doubt that the frogs still kept coming to the pool, but they were safely able to escape- see photos in this post.


The photos below were taken this week after a downpour of rain at night. Once again the local native frogs went looking for a mate to the closest water source and ended up in the pool. Three Ornate Burrowing Frogs and an Emerald Spotted were all having a great time in the pool. I could hear them from inside the house and went out to inspect and found one already escaping the pool on the frog log. We have had the Frog Log for a few years now and despite it being in full sun every day and in the chlorinated salt water, it is still holding up well, continuing to prevent wildlife from drowning in the pool.

Ornate Burrowing Frog exiting the pool via the "Frog Log" at Jarowair - December 2017.  This clever floating device has been preventing wildlife drownings in the pool here for years.

You can buy a frog log in Australia online at The Land Down Under. Direct link here: https://www.thelanddownunder.com.au/online-shop/wildlife-safety-products/display/53-froglog®-critter-saving-escape-ramp


I highly recommend all pool owners purchase one of these or a similar product to prevent wildlife drowning in your pool.

Judi Gray