Hawaii Fights Noisy Frog Infestation
It’s hard to imagine a tiny, 2-inch frog could cause so much harm. Beloved in its native Puerto Rico, the coqui frog has become a menace in Hawaii, where it suddenly appeared in the 1990s. With no natural predators, such as snakes, to keep their numbers under control, the frogs and their loud “ko-KEE” mating calls have multiplied exponentially — causing headaches for homeowners.
So yeah, invasive species are bad, mmmmmkay? But really, as far as I can tell from this article the only impact these frogs are having is noise pollution. Aparantly the “plucky” island dwellers can’t handle a little froggy chirp, though.
In fact, state Rep. Clifton Tsuji calls the frogs “a species of mass destruction.” … Erm… So, the frogs are so noisy that people don’t want to buy houses in infested areas and that equals “mass destruction”, eh?
Right.
Yeah, I read that article this morning - it was pretty annoying. How long did they have to search before finding a guy with “hyperacusis”?
Perhaps the economic stance is being favored by people that want to get rid of the frog because they are afraid that people think the frogs are cute, like the noise they make, or think the frogs are good because they eat insects, and insects are annoying and bad!
There are no native amphibians or land reptiles in Hawaii. Adding a bunch of insectivorous critters to an ecosystem where once there were few is likely going to have an impact on native insects that evolved without that type of predator. That in turn could negatively impact birds that eat insects. What, you want proof? Okay, let’s wait until we have proof and it’s too late :-).
Here is a good site to learn more.
Also, there is a faction of people that are campaigning against coqui eradication on Hawaii, saying it is a money-raising conspiracy among other things. Here is a blog post I wrote about it.
Although the dateline on the story was Schofield Barracks, all the nancy-boy complainers were on the Big Island. For the record: we on Oahu could handle it if they were making noises at us. It’s those frigging rooster we can’t stand.
i wonder what j. martinez kalani english thinks about this ? i understand he is part tongan-coqui…
You can’t talk shit about him; he is also part blahstuffian.
How did I know Kalani would come up?
Do you think Jenn has just been biding her time, reading our blogs waiting for exactly this topic to come up?
I think Jenn’s been around long enough to know I tend to harp on invasive species from time to time. I’m just happy to have her and her PhD around to actually add some knowledge here and there.
I can’t avoid commenting when the subject is invasive species!
I have been a faithful blahstuff reader since 2002, when I was trolling blogs and found one that mentioned Quincy, where I was living at the time. Funny how you get out in the global ether and eventually end up looking for signs of home.