Calaveras County's annual, Mark-Twain-inspired frog-racing contest has been spared from a regulatory ban by a loophole:
California wildlife officials warned it was illegal to return competitors in the Mark Twain-inspired festival to their natural habitat for fear they could spread disease or alter ecosystems.
But in a twist almost as bizarre as one of Twain's tall tales, officials found an obscure 1957 provision to the Fish and Game Code that exempts frogs used in jumping contests from wildlife rules.