Thousands of pet frogs kept by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo at the Bogor Presidential Palace in West Java “have been eaten” by a monitor lizard, the president said in a televised interview.

Jokowi said he was not concerned over the deaths of his pet frogs. He claimed when it rained, he could still hear a little bit of the voice of the frogs, which he said reminded him of a “tranquil village environment.”

With a calm environment at Bogor Palace, the president said he could think clearly to make important decisions for the state, he told senior journalist Rosiana Silalahi in an interview on Kompas TV.

Kompas.com reported Jokowi said in a dinner with journalists that he kept around 2,000 pet frogs at Bogor Palace, which is located inside the Bogor Botanical Garden complex.

His fondness for keeping frogs as pets has been known publicly since he was still Jakarta governor. In 2013, Jokowi built a fish pond in the garden of his official residence in Menteng, Central Jakarta, as a home for 20 frogs. (dmr)