Fish stocking may transmit toad disease

Trout raised in hatcheries can pass a deadly fungus to amphibians, researchers have found. The discovery bolsters suspicion that stocking lakes for sportfishing could be contributing to a global decline in amphibian populations.

A breeding pair of western toads, Bufo boreas. Kiesecker/Penn State

Since the 1980s, for example, the numbers of western toads have plummeted throughout much of their range in the western United States and Canada.