Nothing could have prepared the Cleveland Metroparks’ amphibian patrol team for the influx of interest in the 2025 salamander migration.
The 14-member group waited in the evening mist on one particularly popular night, watching person after person, flashlight after flashlight, approach the park system’s most well-known viewing point. Lights bobbed along the pathway and scanned the dewy ground for critters.
As salamanders and frogs scuttled across roadways and spring grass, a total of 442 people — hundreds more than in prior years — huddled to get a glimpse. Some people scooped them up, posing with the animals for photos. Some stepped off the paths and into the woods, inadvertently risking squishing the animals…