See how a simple ingenious invention saves so many animals (6+ photos)

Maryland wildlife biologist Rich Mason was the man everyone called for help when any wild animals wandered into garages, yards, and homes. But one friend came to him in 2004 with a strange predicament: she was pulling dead frogs out of her swimming pool on a daily basis.

Intrigued, Mason began researching the issue and found many homeowners who had posted questions online about how to prevent animals and reptiles from falling into pools and drowning. Frogs, for instance, could get into the pools easily enough but were incapable of getting out in time.

There are millions of swimming pools across the country, with thousands more being built every year. Mason considered the number of animal lives that were lost each year because of these pools, and he decided to come up with a solution.

Mason took some scrap foam and a sewing machine to create an initial test model which would, ideally, allow animals that fell into a pool a platform and ramp on which to climb out. He had friends of his come over and give him feedback, which resulted in more models being made.

“I bought some foam and made more devices and got feedback from more friends,” Mason said to The Dodo. “It was pretty altruistic, just about helping animals.”

The final model worked so well that Mason made a couple of hundred models out of his garage for people who wanted to save animals that fell into their pools. Eventually, the product's popularity spread and The FrogLog as the invention came to be called, took off.

“The good part is we get such great feedback from people, really passionate emails saying this is the best thing since sliced bread,” Mason said.

Thanks to Mason's invention, thousands of animals who accidentally fall into pools have a chance to escape unharmed. Watch the video below of Mason's The FrogLog invention and share it with your animal-loving friends and family on Facebook!