This Simple Device in Your Pool Can Save an Animal's Life

If your pool has been open since the start of the summer, you've likely had to deal with frogs, mice, and other unwanted animals leaping into the water for a dip only to find themselves unable to leave. This product spotlighted by CBS Minnesota doesn't keep wildlife from falling into your pool, but it does give them a safe and simple way to climb out.

The Frog Log bills itself as a "critter-saving escape ramp." To install it, just place the semicircular pad on the water's surface against the side of the pool and lay the weighted pouch on the edge above it. Frogs, lizards, ducklings, chipmunks, and even some insects floundering in the pool will see the device's net trim and swim towards it. After hoisting themselves onto the platform, they can take the mesh bridge to safety.

Wildlife biologist Rich Mason was inspired to make the product after friends of his found 53 dead frogs in their pool one summer. He knew that such deaths could have been prevented, so he got to work building the tiny creatures an escape route. The Frog Log took hundreds of hours of research, testing, and development to make it a reality, and today Mason sells thousands of them to customers around the world each year.

Each Frog Log costs $23 with 3 percent of the profits going to help conservation groups like Amphibian Survival Alliance and Green People. Purchase your own through the Frog Log website to keep the critters in your backyard safe through the end of swimming pool season.

[h/t CBS Minnesota]