Punished For Releasing A Frog Back Into The Wild

[BoundaryGirl3939]

I will try explain as best I can.

Two days ago (Friday), my dad brought a wild frog home in a bucket. He was visiting the family holiday house and said he wanted to show the frog to my brother’s five-year-old son when they came to visit. Then my dad left for a few days and left me with the frog...and no clear instructions. He is a disorganised person at the best of times.

The frog had water and a cushion was covering the bucket. The weather has been extremely hot over the past 3 days.

On the first day, I could hear the frog moving around in the bucket but didn't know how to manage it.

On day two, I still heard the odd thump. I was quite busy with my own things and anxious as i didnt know how to deal with it.

This morning it dawned on me that I hadn’t heard anything from the bucket. I started to panic that the frog had died or was very weak. I didn’t want to lift the cushion for fear I’d find a dead frog.

I rang my dad to ask what to do, but he gave me no advice... instead, he became defensive and blamed another relative for not stopping by to feed the frog worms.

So I went to ChatGPT for advice. It told me that the best thing to do would be to release it. Which is what I did...beside a lake. Thankfully it was alive but subdued.

Now father and brother (father of nephew) are angry at me...saying I had “no authority” to let the frog go and that I’ve ruined something for my nephew. My nephew wouldnt arrive until late last night so realistically he wouldn’t have seen the frog until tomorrow. My nephew also rules the roost and gets treats all the time...do it's not as though it was to be a life changing moment for him.

I genuinely didn’t think I was stepping on anyone’s toes. I didn't realise there would be such a fall out.

I've also spent the day tidying the family holiday house for my brother, and went food shopping for him this morning. Thankless.

For context: a fortnight ago, I stood up for myself over a long-standing unhealthy family dynamic that had been stealing my peace. I can’t help but feel that this strong reaction to the frog situation is less about the frog and more about me being “punished” for asserting myself.

Thoughts please?

So the options were
a) release the frog
b) dead frog in a bucket

I think you chose the right one.

Yes, i did. And then I re-edited it. It doesn't change my story.

Keeping the frog in a bucket was cruel, your dad shouldn't have taken it so far from home. You did the right thing by releasing it.

What has using chatGBT got to do with anything?

He was an absolute idiot taking a frog from the wild. You did the right thing releasing it though it may well have died since and certainly would have if kept in a bucket any longer. I despair.

Meanwhile you clearly have some serious relationship issues in the family that would be best dealt with. Easier said than done though.

Thank you. They are making me feel as though I'm insane. Such a disgusting overreaction.

Your Dad was being very cruel, its a living thing not a bloody toy for your nephew.
I would have released it straight away

Hang on, they wanted to keep a frog trapped in a bucket for days without any food, and YOU'RE the bad person for releasing it?

That is completely abhorrent. They were unreasonable but then so were you - you should have released it much sooner and I'm concerned that you needed chatgpt to tell you to release a frog that was trapped in a bucket with no food.

It's my go-to when I'm looking for advice. I explained the issue to chat gpt. It recommended i release it so I did.

I hate ChatGPT posts

But I will overlook it 😂because I am very pleased that you freed the frog. Poor frog, no one should've done that to him in the first place. You have done the right thing.

If you’re in England, it’s illegal to remove wildlife from its natural habitat and bring it home, for very good reason. Your dad is a cruel arsehole and you did the right thing (albeit a day late, poor frog spending the night in a bucket ffs)

None of this was my responsibility. I was given any instructions. When I released it, I did notice worms at the bottom of the bucket so someone did try feed them. I didn't create this problem.

Your Dad is the one who should be in trouble here OP. Taking any creature who is unharmed from it's natural environment is absolutely DISGUSTING. He should take his Grandson to the pond, and show him where frogs live in their natural habitat, not put it in a bucket and bring it home, then leave it for days without food. DISGRACEFUL behaviour, he's surely old enough to know better!

I feel as though im being bullied by my family. Worst thing is that I have to spend a week with this brother in the family home and I hate him right now for calling me and taking my head off.

Okay I stand corrected @BoundaryGirl3939. However you were witnessing animal cruelty even if it wasn't your responsibility. I'm struggling to understand how you needed instructions when someone traps a wild animal.
You didn't create the problem I do get that, but it's just hard to read that it was left there like that.

Well my father is quite overpowering, and this is technically his house...and I believed it was going to be temporary. He is terrifying to stand up to sometimes. Not an excuse...but an explanation of the dynamic.

I assumed i would be given instructions, or that someone would sort it....or that there was a plan in place. It dawned on me today that it had gone too far.

No sorry OP that wasn't aimed at you, it was aimed at the post picking you up for chatGBT, for some reason it didnt put the quote of the other poster on to my reply.

He sounds awful @BoundaryGirl3939x

I see ❤️

You did the right thing and your father is both an idiot and very cruel. No authority? Like they didn’t have any to steal the poor thing from its home. How are people so ignorant?

oh and @BallerinaRadio why does it matter where or how it was written? It doesn’t!

Yes, he's a bullying sometimes and the dynamic is intimidating. He doesnt like being questioned of challenged. This fall out shows it.

1. Transporting a wild amphibian is a really shitty idea due to the spread of disease.
2. The poor bloody thing would have suffered the entire time from when he caught it.
3. Tell him you've been lying to try and save the kid's feelings and the poor bloody animal died because of being caught and transported, then kept in a bucket in a heatwave.

Poor bloody frog.

Did you really need an AI chatbot to tell you to try to avoid being complicit in torturing a frog to death? Stop the world, I want to get off.