Charming: Jacinta Allen from the Australian Rainforest Foundation puckers up for a good cause.

IN the end, this little green guy didn't turn out to be a prince.

But the Australian Rainforest Foundation’s Jacinta Allen said the Splendid Green Tree Frog lived up to his name nonetheless.

"He was just gorgeous," said Ms Allen, whose Valentine’s Day kiss heralded the start of an ARF campaign to save the Far North’s frogs.

"He just stared at me as if to say ‘help me’," she said.

"He was a fairytale frog."

While the tree frog has today safely returned to his rainforest sanctuary at Cairns Tropical Zoo, his brothers and sisters around the region are in urgent need of help.

"They’re so vulnerable and you don’t realise how vulnerable until they’re in your hand; they’re so soft, " Ms Allen said.

In a bid to help our amphibians battle parasitic fungi, habitat loss and climate change, the ARF will chip in money raised from sale of fluffy frogs at its Esplanade store to help preserve frog forests and fund research in the Far North.

On February 29 the Foundation will officially launch Leap Frog Day, an initiative to keep the Far North’s frogs "alive kicking and croaking".

For some wonderful wildlife images, go to our photo gallery.