This is a continuation of my last post.
In Hawaii, the rare coqui frog, that can only survive in tropical rainforest climates, is being killed cruely in mass numbers. You think it's not a problem? Wrong.
"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.
In Response, we at HawaiianCoqui.org have started a Coqui Sanctuary and Nature Preserve.
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".)
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! " - HawaiianCoqui.com
Click on this link to see a video of the coqui frog: http://bigislandvideonews.com/puna/20081115coqui.htm
