Chytridiomycosis, caused by the fungal pathogens Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis and B. salamandrivorans, is devastating amphibian populations worldwide and causing massive individual and population-level suffering.
Chytridiomycosis causes acute, distressing mortality - infected frogs and salamanders die from cardiac failure caused by electrolyte imbalance. The scale of suffering is staggering when viewed at the population level: hundreds of millions of individual animals have died in what is called the greatest vertebrate disease die-off in recorded history. The welfare imperative is matched by the conservation imperative - this is a genuine global crisis.