Friday, Jul. 08, 2005 at 1:06 a.m.
Frog hell letter in Maui Newspaper today

�� �� �� �� �� �� �� �� �� �� �� �� �� Hey now frog fighters.

Been a long time since I updated. Below is the text of a letter I just got published in the Maui Newspaper today. I guess this will tell you what has happened with the Big Island of Hawaii and the LOUD noisy frogs. Damn if only the people had listened to us when we set up this page. Now things are just plain out of control.

If you are here for coqui frog information take heart, we have made progress in finding a frog killing brew, I will be posting it here soon. Yes I am back, check it out... Welcome me back to the wonderful world of frog blogging.

Love, Joy

I need a redesign badly I paid someone for this mess and I am not happy with it. Can someone help us please to make this site more effective. Thanks.

Maui needs to unite against the quiet-destroying coqui frogs

When coqui frogs were starting to heavily infest the Big Island, Sydney Ross Singer wrote many bad science, pro-frog letters in the Hawaii Island Journal.

It is frog hell here now. The frog shrieking is ear damaging, loud and completely unlivable at night. It is a tragedy and Sydney Ross Singer had a huge hand in making it happen.

He divided our community at the early stage in the fight, and now some neighbors are �frog zombies� quoting dogma according to Singer such as �the little frogs didn�t ask to be here,� etc.) You can�t get to the infestations on their property, so the problem goes on and on. Even if you somehow manage to get your yard quiet, you can still hear the loud frog racket surrounding you.

Hawaii lacks the large assortment of natural predators like whip scorpions and snakes that keep the frog numbers down in their natural habitats like Puerto Rico. Coqui frogs allowed to get a claw-hold here multiply until they dominate.

I am devastated to hear Singer is still writing pro-frog disinformation (Viewpoint, May 27). Please don�t fall for it Maui! You risk loosing your beautiful quiet nights forever.

If you work together as a community, I hope you can save Maui from the Big Island�s noisy fate.


back or forth

Thanks for coming by. Please bookmark, so you can come back and read our Hawaiian coqui tree frog updates. More research links, articles, poetry and funny songs from Kill the Noisy Frogs Hawaii. Aloha, Joy

"Lurking in the shadows are the noisy alien species, waiting to ruin your vacation. The hideous sounds of night are calling, it's twillight time for Hawaii."

See my entry "Friendly naked people, black sand, dolphins - Meet me at the beach" for my invitation to a special secret beach, here in Hawaii.

I was mentioned in the paper in this article. Yes folks, I am the "upset reader".
Here is my diary entry about it, finally getting through.

Frog Research Links
NEW are ALL CAPS

TREE FROG ALERT

Hawaiian Coqui Frog Home Page

h.e.a.r.

Word of the day

Coqui: Small frog BIG sound.

"On October 1, 2001, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it had approved the use of caffeine to fight the infestation of coqui frogs in Hawaii. Coqui frogs are not native to Hawaii and have no natural enemies on the Islands. The frogs are considered pests because they compete for food with Hawaii's native bird population. The loud mating call of the coqui frog does not help its reputation: according to the Hawaii Department of Agriculture, the call of the frog sounds like a lawn mower, table saw, or helicopter."

Joy's note: Because of Sydney Ross Singer and his letters and articles they were not allowed to use the caffeine and today it sits in a warehouse. That's right, $25,000 worth of caffeine that could have saved us from this frog plauge, denied use. That caffeine is sitting there with the ancestors watching and wondering how we have allowed this to happen to this sacred land. Will our beloved Hawaiian island be infested for all eternity because of one misguided man?

Sydney Ross Singer, I challenge you to write a retraction in the Hawaii Island Journal newspaper. You need to refute your wrong headed statements and remove your pro frog website from cyberspace. Please listen Sydney, we need you to help us fight this pest, not try to convince people that the frog is our friend. The invasion by these alien frogs is the worst disaster these islands have ever endured. Look through the research links to educate yourself. Aloha.

"The fact that they undergo direct development enables the eggs and larvae enable them to be transported under a wide variety of conditions, as long as sufficient moisture is available, or the adult male is transported with the eggs.� Transport of lone eggs may not be successful in some regions since they must be protected from desiccation throughout development by the adult male.� This may not be the case in Hawaii, which receives more rainfall than just about anywhere on earth."

"In Puerto Rico all coqu�es are called coqu� even though not all sing ''co-qu�''. Only two of the species the ''Coqu� Com�n'' and the ''Coqu� de la Monta�a or Coqu� Puertorrique�o'' actually scream ''co-qu�''.Puerto Rican coqu�es have relatives all over Latin America. The coqu� genre is found in all the Caribbean Islands, and in Central and South America. But again, the only ones that make the sound ''co-qu�'' are Puerto Rican.
The scientific name for the coqu� is Eleu-thero-dactylus, characterized because they have no webbed toes. There are 16 different species in Puerto Rico and all of them have padded discs at the end of their toes which helps them climb. Coqu�es are classified as amphibians - a grouping for cold blooded vertebrates that includes frogs, toads, or newts -that are able to live in both water and land.
Contrary to frogs, the coqu�es do not go through a tadpole stage and break out of their egg - a small replica of their parents. Some coqu�es are terrestrial some are arboreal.

"The coqui frog, however, is distinguished by the loud, continuous chirping of the male. Beginning at dusk and continuing until dawn, male coqui frogs move into the trees and call �ko-kee� over and over to attract females. The noise from a group of frogs can exceed 90 decibels, rivaling the sound of a lawnmower or chainsaw." The male frog is responsible for protecting the egg clutch laid by the female. The eggs are less than a quarter inch in diameter with about 2 to 3 dozen eggs per clutch. During the early stages of development, the eggs are milky white, but they become translucent to transparent just before hatching. Juvenile frogs hatch after 2 or 3 weeks. Unlike most frogs, which begin their life cycle as tadpoles, Caribbean tree frogs hatch into fully developed froglets."

"More than a noisy nuisance, coqui are eyed as threat to island fauna. Absent natural predators here, they are likely to wipe out many native species of insects and other small creatures in our forests. Some researchers think it's presence on the islands poses a POTENTIAL ENVIRONMENTAL NIGHTMARE of even greater dimensions."

The nightmare is NOW. Biocontrol seems the only answer. What we are enduring with this NOISY sleep depriving monster is unbearable beyond words.

If you have ever loved Hawaii, please find a frog control method. Contact me right away it you do. I have never been more eager to talk to someone. Mahalo.

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"The coqui, a Puerto Rican frog, has invaded formerly frog-free Hawaii, probably having arrived in imported nursery stock. Not only does it disturb fragile Hawaiian ecosystems, which already have many of their inhabitants on the endangered species list, but it also makes an incredible racket that presents a serious long-term threat to Hawaii's attractiveness to tourists, retirees, and locals. Each coqui emits a croak described as "a car alarm going off." There are thousands, perhaps millions, there. The responsible officials say that when they first discovered the frogs they should have eradicated them. But by the time they got the needed funding, the coqui was out of control. Peaceful Hawaiian nights are the victim."

"Coqui (Caribbean frog) (Eleutherodactylus coqui [Leptodactylidae]) The coqui is a species of frog that is not native to Hawaii; in fact, there are no native amphibians in Hawaii! Coqui are native to Caribbean islands. Coquis pose threats to the tourism industry and our quality of life. Increasing numbers of hotels, visitors, and locals have complained about the piercing noise made by male coqui frogs. At night male coqui emit a loud call (up to 90-100 decibels) that often disturbs people�s sleep. Consequently, several residents have raised concerns about loss of health and declines in property values because of the noise the frogs create. Thus far, the frog populations and the noise have not even remotely reached their potential as a nuisance. Nurseries that export plants and cut flowers may risk the rejection of shipments if the frogs are found or suspected to be present in exported materials. Coqui frogs may also move nematode eggs from the ground to elevated growing stands, endangering a nursery�s nematode-free certification."

"The common Puerto Rican coqui, Eleutherodactylus coqui, is the most common amphibian on that island, is present there in all but the driest areas, and might be the best studied member of its genus. Its name is an onomatopoeia of its disyllabic "co-KEEE" call. After nightfall, millions of individuals ascend up the tree trunks to the canopy of mesic and hydric forests to hunt for insects and to mate. At dawn, instead of climbing down the same route, they throw themselves almost en masse from the canopy and into the void, extending their legs widely to slow their descent by means of a sort of parachuting, and landing with a wet, slapping noise on the leaves of the forest's undergrowth. E. coqui has two sister species, E. portoricensis in Puerto Rico, and E. schwartzi in the Virgin Islands. Both emit a similar call to that of E. coqui. "

"They are members of the mostly Neotropical family Leptodactylidae. Like anoles, they exploit a wide variety of structural niches, from the ground to the crowns of emergent trees in rain forests. Some specialize in cave-dwelling, others are bromediacolous (live in bromeliads). Some species inhabit holes in tree trunks, or the leaf litter of forests. Other species have adapted secondarily to a semi-aquatic life in cold mountain streams of the Greater and Lesser Antilles. None have a tadpole stage, and instead lay their eggs on land. For this they choose humid microhabitats, like spaces under rocks and rotting vegetation, the axillae of bromeliad's leaves, and even lay them exposed on the leaves of rain forest plants, as long as the atmospheric humidity is high."

" Eleuths' calls vary widely. They can be low grunts, loud barks, raspy screeches, telegraphic clicks, piercing whistles, insect-like chirps, eerie and beautifully melodious trills, as well as drawn-out, grating croaks. Antillean species range in size from the smallest amphibian in the World, the Cuban Eleutherodactylus iberia (which vies for that title with a South American frog) to the large E. zeus, also from Cuba, E. inoptatus of Hispaniola, and E. karlschmidti of Puerto Rico. Like anoles, species of Eleutherodactylus can be segregated into different ecomorphs. Unlike anoles, however, the genus has radiated unequally in each of the Greater Antilles. For example, in Jamaica, most species are terrestrial. By contrast, in Puerto Rico many have adapted to a life on trees

"With chytridiomycosis having such lethal effect elsewhere, Department of Agriculture staff thought, the fungal infection might be just the silver bullet needed to knock down Hawai`i coqui populations. Whether chytridiomycosis (pronounced kit-RID-ee-oh-my-KO-sus) can be used as a tool against the coqui is not certain at this point. In Australia, New Zealand, Central and South America, and the continental United States, the disease has contributed to mass die-offs of frogs and has even resulted in the extinctions of the last known populations of two Australian frogs, Yet not all species of amphibians are vulnerable to infection by the fungus. One of the most notorious of Australia's amphibian invaders - the cane toad (introduced to Australia from Hawai`i) - has not been slowed at all by the disease in its march across the continent. Whether the coqui has similar resistance is something to be determined in lab tests"

"But what actually scares me the most about the frogs being here," Mautz says," is that they'll be food for other invading animals. . . . If we have this huge food base of frogs, it will be a paradise found for invading snakes."

"If you or your neighbor has couqi frogs, call the Department of Agriculture today
(in Hilo 974-4140).

"The greatest threat to the economy and environment of the state is from harmful invasive species like the coqui."

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Special Spanish Section

Los Coqu�es de Puerto Rico
Los coqu�es est�n representados en Puerto Rico por el g�nero Eleutherodactylus (dedos libres) caracterizados por no tener membranas natatorias. Hay 16 diferentes especies; sin embargo, solamente hay dos especies que producen el sonido "co-qu�". Todos los coqu�es tienen discos o cojinetes en las puntas de los dedos de pies y manos. E. cooki Se le conoce como el guaj�n o "demonio de Puerto Rico". De este coqu� se cuentan infinidad de historietas. Vive en las grutas y grietas entre pe�ones en el sureste de la isla.

Hear Frogs Yell
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REPORT FROGS HERE

Then you better go KILL THEM yourself. Because you won't get ANY help from the state.

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Previous Musings

Funny Song:
The Coqui Stomp
by Ray Davies
- Tuesday, Sept. 09, 2003
Funny Interview with Billy Crystal and Ray Davies on why he is never coming back to Hawaii. - Saturday, Sept. 06, 2003
funny SONG: Lyrics based on the Kinks tune
Permanent Wave
- Saturday, Sept. 06, 2003
How to Kill Invasive Coqui Tree Frogs - Wednesday, Sept. 03, 2003
Funny Stuff: Billy Crystal as Hernando Fernando from Saturday Night live dreams of Woodstock 2003 or is it Frogstock 1969? - Tuesday, Sept. 02, 2003

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How Dare He!

"Certain people hear these frogs once and they�re haunted the rest of their lives by it. I am one of those people. I�m haunted by the painful frog noise I endured for the moments before I ran screaming from your yard. I�ll never be able to return to your paradise home and I�m so sad I have to tell everyone to never go to Hawaii again.�

You can email the Dept of AG to report frogs or to let them know what you think about Sydney Singer instructing people to NOT report the frogs!

Also you can email the Editor of the Hawaii Island Journal, Mr. Lane Wick.

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"Usually when people are sad, they don't do anything. They just cry over their condition. But when they get angry, they bring about a change."

Joy's note:

The thing that makes me most angry about Sydney Ross Singer's wrong headed pro-frog progaganda, is his obvious lack of research. This is glaring in his statements like, "We are just little frogs wanting to eat little bugs. Surely, you have enough bugs to share, no?" Well the correct answer is NO! Hawaii's endangered habitats do not have enough "bugs to share". The rare endemic beetles and other insects the alien coqui frogs are eating can never be replaced. The endangered birds found no where else on earth, that will die because of these frogs, are forever on Sydney Singer's head!

This page exists to balance the propaganda of Chirp, Sydney Singer's pro frog org. We work to publish the facts and research links about the hawaiian coqui crisis and to discover new frog control methods. The coqui tree frog in Hawaii is much more than a pest. This invader frog could cause the ruin of everything we cherish as hawaiian. If it takes a frogwar to rescue ourselves from the screeching frogs, I say frogmania dude, let's fight the frog wars. Please someone that knows how to kill frogs can you give us this crucial information right away. How do we kill the tree frogs in Hawaii?

"The impact of human activities on natural environments is evident all around us, but it is most obvious on islands. Islands are, in effect, closed systems. If your habitat is destroyed, there are no other habitats available. With no options for survival, there can be only one result: EXTINCTION."


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Coqui Frog Control

To discourage Caribbean tree frogs from invading your property, create a habitat that won�t provide protection from the sun.
1. Remove from the ground leaves, compost, woodpiles, and any debris that holds moisture.
2. Rake fallen leaves from under trees and bushes.
3. Trim tree vines and cut dead or dying leaves off trees like the banana, palm, monocot, and heliconia.
4. Make sure outdoor storage areas are solidly constructed and free of holes or cracks.
5. Drain any containers that catch rain water.

"Two years ago, Hilo science teacher Kathy Pung heard that people desperate to rid their homes of the frogs, having heard of Campbell's work with caffeine, were buying caffeine solutions at $50 a gallon. Pung considered the price outrageous, and with her sixth-grade daughter Jordyn doing a science fair project, set out to show that just as good a job could be done with a few dollars-worth of NoDoz dissolved in about a quart of water. Even diluting the resulting solution, the frogs died in just seven seconds, Jordyn said."

"There is only one appropriate action to take after weighing all the evidence: the alien frogs must be removed from Hawaii's precious natural landscape. In Puerto Rico coqui is known as El coqui, but Hawaii they are only know as a PEST. There is no reason to allow them to stay and there are a lot of reasons to remove them. If the next generation of children in Hawaii are to know and see, first hand, all the rare and exotic creatures that live in Hawaii�s rain forests, Hawaii's citizens need to support removing the alien frogs."

"The coqui frogs are a major threat to Hawaii's environmental system. The frogs eat thousands of insects every night. These insects are important for the reproduction of plants. The insects also are important food for Hawaii's native, rare birds. The frogs also are affecting the tourism industry in Hawaii. Increasing numbers of hotels, visitors and local people have protested about the loud calls made by male coqui frogs to female frogs. At night, the noise often makes it difficult for people to sleep. The mating call of the male coqui sounds like: "Ko-Kee! Ko-Kee!" That is how they got their name.The frogs do not have any natural enemies in Hawaii to reduce their population size. The warm weather permits them to lay eggs all year long."

"A group working to rid the Big Island of noisy Caribbean frogs says it is still hopeful the coqui frog can be eradicated, despite statements from the government that it is not possible. "We're not ready to concede anything," said Coqui Frog Working Group coordinator Arnold Hara, a University of Hawaii entomologist. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services branch had said recently that eradication is no longer possible and is rewriting its 2001 eradication plan, now calling it a control plan. Significant progress has been made in the last year in identifying more effective eradication methods...The working group has made incredible progress over the last year, county spokesman Bill Kenoi said. "We've really kicked the eradication effort into high gear," he said. "We've got multiple state and federal agencies working together on field research, pesticide development, community education and outreach. We are going to continue to fight to eradicate the coqui frog from this island."

"We're still in the early stage of the invasion, in another five years, it will be hopeless. The frogs have the potential of upsetting the existing ecosystem, both by what they eat - insects and spiders - and by their becoming food for a new predator that could add yet another disruption. One potential predator of the coqui is the brown tree snake, a species that in Guam has contributed to the demise of native birds and lizards. Hawaii has desperately been working to keep the snake out, an effort that has been largely successful despite the occasional snake that slips through in a cargo shipment. The snakes have failed to establish a footing in Hawaii to date, but that could change if coquis spread and present an attractive food source for them."

"The problem with adding frogs to the system is their voracious and indiscriminate appetite. Not only do the coqui consume insects that are necessary for pollination and other ecological chores, but the foreign frogs directly compete with native birds for insect prey -- birds that are already increasingly rare. Apparently, there are only so many bugs to eat in Hawaii. Then, there's the noise. Hawaiian nights are renown for their gentle lulling calm. Guests at Maui resort hotels infested by coqui now check out of their rooms early because the shrieking frogs make it impossible to sleep. It apparently was driving them crazy at the Ritz-Carlton, at one point, a hotel was paying bounty hunters $75 a frog, dead or alive."

"As frog populations elsewhere are decimated by disease, the prospect of killing these animals on a large scale can only bring pain to anyone concerned with inflicting suffering on sentient creatures. Yet the prospect of not trying, with the almost certain outcome of further extinctions and irreparable damage to Hawaii's already injured ecosystems, is even MORE painful."

"The two insect-eating frogs are having a serious impact on the many rare endemic insects that have evolved on this isolated island chain...scientists are worried that the frogs will spread into higher-elevation rainforests, which currently serve as refugia for many native species"

"Some species become weeds when they are moved from their natural habitat, where they live with a host of diseases, pests and predators that limit their profusion. Move them to a place where none of these exists, and they can take off. It can happen with plants, like miconia and black wattle in the forested areas of Hawai'i, and with insects, like the two-spotted leafhopper and mosquitoes. It can happen with amphibians, like the noisy coqui frog, Eleutherodactylus coqui...One resident of Lawa'i, Kaua'i, recalls that for months she fell asleep to the call of a single coqui and enjoyed it � until it apparently found a mate. Soon the woods were filled with the din of dozens of frogs."

" Some researchers have estimated such dense populations of coqui may eat up to 200 pounds of bugs per acre per year. Do they eat mosquitoes, as some champions of the coqui claim? Only rarely...Coqui tend to reduce the numbers of spiders. They�re NOT major mosquito eaters.�

"The program starts with $200,000 in federal funds obtained through a University of Hawaii research program. The rest of the money remains uncertain now With the frog count growing bigger by the day, the window of opportunity for eradication is shrinking.The longer we let it go, the more likely we won't be able to eradicate"

Frogs plauge Paradise: "The irritating coqui with it's ear piercing 100 decibel shriek and the less noisy but equally devastating greenhouse frog. A lack of natural predators and fast reproduction rates have allowed them to breed like wildfire. Some homes have already been sampled at 26,000 frogs on ONE acre."

"the sound emitted by it at night already has had an effect on the peaceful quality of living in rural Maui.The frog has a very loud, clear whistle, a high whistle followed by a lower one in quick succession," he said. Duvall said the frog is from the genus Eleuthero dactylis."

"Coming soon to a neighborhood near you (if it hasn't already arrived): Eleutherodactylus coqui, the Puerto Rican native whose onomatopoetic name only hints at the frog's ear-splitting nocturnal mati