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The Coqui Tree Frog has come to Hawaii --
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Hawaii Department of Agriculture 'Chirping' Away at Our Property
Hawaii will soon make history as the first government in the world to officially declare a frog to be a "plant pest" by adding coqui tree frogs to a list of plant pests designated for control or eradication. Property owners beware! This designation will give the Hawaii Department of Agriculture (HDOA) the right to enter private property to kill coqui tree frogs as plant pests. If property owners want to keep their frogs, or if they object to having their property sprayed with citric acid, hydrated lime, or other frog and environmental poisons, too bad. Coqui chirping is being declared an agricultural crisis, deserving of property rights infringement, according to the HDOA. Everywhere else in the world frogs are considered beneficial to agriculture, since they eat insect pests. Even in Hawaii, frogs were at one time imported to control insect pests. But intolerance by some residents for the nocturnal chirping of the coqui has led to a multi-million dollar Frog War, and listing the coqui as a plant pest is the latest attempt by the HDOA to be able to kill frogs on private land without owner consent. But calling frogs "plant pests" does not make them so. Real plant pests, such as fruit flies, aphids, and borers, damage plants or their fruit. Coqui frogs do no harm to plants, and benefit plants by eating insects that do harm, such as fruit flies, aphids, and borers. Their "crime" is their nocturnal chirping, which is merely a subjective noise nuisance issue for some people. Subjective feelings, such as whether or not you like the sound of a chirping frog, should have no bearing on designating a species as a plant pest. And the HDOA does not deal with animal noise nuisance issues. The HDOA is accepting comments on its proposed rule changes, including also expanding its powers to potentially add to their plant pest list any vertebrate species, or animal with a backbone. Until now, no vertebrates have been considered plant pests, and the coqui frog would be the first. But what's next? Pigs? Birds? Lizards? Every creature that eats could be considered a plant pest, if the HDOA gets its way. And this will give them license to enter private property to get whatever they want. Please oppose this abuse of power. Send comments by October 2, 2008. You can find out more at the HDOA website: http://hawaii.gov/hdoa/meetings_reports/public-notices/pn To view the proposed rule amendments, click here. Send your comments to HDOA. hdoa.info@hawaii.gov
Some people hate the nighttime mating song of the frogs, which keeps them awake. Others enjoy the coqui's bird-like chirp and find that it soothes them to sleep, like the sound of crickets. The USDA Wildlife Services have spearheaded a campaign to exterminate the frogs, and government agencies have made it a felony to knowingly transport the frogs. Others break this law deliberately to spread them. CLICK HERE to read our CHIRP policy on this.... Some want to kill the frogs. Others want to save them.
Why has the coqui been labeled a "criminal" in Hawaii, and subjected to such tortures as being boiled or frozen or sprayed with acid? It's not because the frogs are an environmental problem. Even a "scientific study" has shown that they are not a threat to Hawaii's ecosystems. Click here for excerpts from an article that appeared in The Honolulu Advertiser newspaper, August 28, 2005. NO, THE REASON for the Frog War is not because the frogs are an environmental problem. It's because of their chirping at night, which some people don't like!
>> READ MORE about our "Place of Refuge" |
Coqui Survey | ||
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SOME PEOPLE consider coqui frogs in Hawaii to be invasive aliens that threaten the environment and the quality of life. Others consider the frogs exotic immigrants who can improve the environment and quality of life in Hawaii.
AS OF January, 2008, the coqui frogs are still under attack in Hawaii. Millions of dollars have been spent to spray the jungles with acid and caustic lime (calcium hydroxide) in order to burn the frogs to death. Some spraying has taken place using helicopters to poison the tree tops. Beautiful tropical plants have been cut down and sprayed with herbicide to eliminate coqui hiding places. Trees have been cut down, and bulldozers have cleared land, all to attack the coqui.
It takes 45 minutes to kill coquis with acid or calcium hydroxide, a painful and inhumane practice that also burns lizards, spiders, insects, birds, cats and dogs, plants, and anything else unfortunate enough to be in the spray's path. Uncountable numbers of animals suffer sub-lethal burns that cause weeks of pain. This barbaric practice is not only cruel; it is also ineffective, and has spread the frogs. The only other methods of killing coquis, promoted by the government, are to hand-capture the frogs and put them in hot water, to cook them to death, or to put them in the freezer, to freeze them to death. No humane method of frog control is offered; and humane laws do not apply to the coquis in Hawaii, since the government in 2006 passed a law specifically defining the coqui as a "pest"; and, by Hawaii law, pests are not protected from cruelty! (This is the first time in the history of the world that a tree frog has been labeled a "pest".)