Amphibians are experiencing the most severe extinction crisis of any vertebrate class, with the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis responsible for catastrophic population losses.
Chytridiomycosis causes significant suffering in individual amphibians through disruption of osmoregulation and ion transport across the skin - functions that are existential for amphibians that breathe and regulate electrolytes through their permeable skin. Infected frogs show abnormal posture, skin sloughing, lethargy, and neurological signs before death. The scale of suffering from the chytrid pandemic is staggering in both species and individual terms. Wild animal suffering from emerging infectious diseases is often invisible to humans, occurring in remote habitats without observation. Conservation programs that prevent extinction through captive assurance colonies directly protect species while maintaining populations that can be returned to treated or fungus-free habitats.