Hawaiian Coqui Killers

PR-Giants · 10-13-2013, 11:21 AM

Hawaiian Coqui, Facts about the coqui in Hawaii

"This moral depravity reached its zenith in 2007, with a planned Coqui Bounty Hunter contest to be held by public schools on the Big Island. Schools instructed students to kill coquis, either by burning them with acid, cooking them alive, or freezing them. The school with the most "kills" would receive a prize -- the violent video games Playstation 3 and Xbox. The contest was canceled once it was pointed out to the schools that students are supposed to receive humane, not inhumane, education"

robguz24 · 10-13-2013, 01:20 PM

The guy that runs that site, who lives near me, is notorious for advocating for the protection of invasive species to the detriment of native species, here in the endangered species capital of the US. They are here to stay here and have no natural predators. They also love bananas, so they love my yard. They do get so loud here it's difficult to watch TV in the evening without blasting it or closing all the doors and windows, and many people have learned to live with sleeping with earplugs. It's nice to visit other islands where it's wonderfully quiet at night.

I remember reading about that sick contest too.

PR-Giants · 10-13-2013, 03:38 PM

If you live in a concrete house, I can fully understand, the echoes seem louder than the original chirp.

In a wooden house it is much easier on the ears.

caliboy1994 · 10-13-2013, 04:34 PM

That article is clearly trying to downplay the issue of invasive species. I live in California, which is another state where invasive species have run rampant. They have completely overhauled and transformed ecosystems, and have driven many native species close to extinction. The grasslands that cover much of California were once perennial and green year round, but thanks to introduced European annual grasses they dry out in the summer, which increases fire hazard substantially. They have also displaced native grasses, driving some of them close to extinction. Now, undisturbed native grasslands are extremely difficult to find in this state. Not all introduced species are detrimental, but those that disrupt the balance of an ecosystem don't belong. Here at least, most of the worst invasive species are plants (the Argentine ant is a very notable exception). But whatever the case, if an introduced species poses a threat to either humans or the native ecosystem, they should be eradicated. I can tell you as an environmental scientist that that's the best course of action.

Rob, I'm sure you know how bad strawberry guava is in Hawaii. Non-native European grasses are like strawberry guava on crack here. The entire grassland community on the mountain behind my house in Southern California has been COMPLETELY taken over by wild oats, another European invasive grass. The only things you'll see in the affected area besides wild oats is wild mustard (another terrible invasive) and perhaps a few native wildflowers.

shannondicorse · 10-13-2013, 05:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PR-Giants

Hawaiian Coqui, Facts about the coqui in Hawaii

"This moral depravity reached its zenith in 2007, with a planned Coqui Bounty Hunter contest to be held by public schools on the Big Island. Schools instructed students to kill coquis, either by burning them with acid, cooking them alive, or freezing them. The school with the most "kills" would receive a prize -- the violent video games Playstation 3 and Xbox. The contest was canceled once it was pointed out to the schools that students are supposed to receive humane, not inhumane, education"

PR,

In addition, these vendettas are possibly attempts to create (taxpayer-subsidised) extermination industries by playing on xenophobia, paranoia and general ignorance of the populace.

Call a species "dangerous", "alien" or "invasive" and it stirs up primeval human instincts that often throw reason and commonsense out of the window.

We have another non-native "coqui", Eleutherodactylus johnstonei here on Trinidad; it has not interacted with the native E. urichi; and has found a niche in built environments - where other amphibians, dependent on water to reproduce, cannot inhabit.

Similarly, there is this flap locally about the Giant African Snail, Lissachatina fulica, recently introduced to Trinidad. Innocent $$$ are spent on the negative press... but the molluscs are less ravenous than several slugs here.

Reminds me of those panicky reports that the banana was going to go extinct because of FOC TR4.

Ha!

shannon

shannon.di.corse@gmail.com

caliboy1994 · 10-13-2013, 06:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shannondicorse

We have another non-native "coqui", Eleutherodactylus johnstonei here on Trinidad; it has not interacted with the native E. urichi; and has found a niche in built environments - where other amphibians, dependent on water to reproduce, cannot inhabit.

Similarly, there is this flap locally about the Giant African Snail, Lissachatina fulica, recently introduced to Trinidad. Innocent $$$ are spent on the negative press... but the molluscs are less ravenous than several slugs here.

As I said, not all introduced species are detrimental. So many species have been introduced into my state that it's not even funny. Most of them are not harmful at all. But there are those that are. We're not going to say that kudzu in the Southeastern US or that feral pigs and rats in Hawaii aren't bad, right?

shannondicorse · 10-13-2013, 06:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by caliboy1994

As I said, not all introduced species are detrimental. So many species have been introduced into my state that it's not even funny. Most of them are not harmful at all. But there are those that are. We're not going to say that kudzu in the Southeastern US or that feral pigs and rats in Hawaii aren't bad, right?

caliboy,

Not at all!

What we humans have to understand is that we humans are the ones who actually decide what is "good" and what is "bad".

So it's 100% a human value judgement.

Given that, what I ask of most of my environmentalist friends is balance and critical thinking.

For if, in fact, we are the judges of what constitutes a "healthy" environment - for I know of no other species that has applied for the job - then we ought to prosecute our task with a critical mind and not frenzy.

As an environmentalist, it pains me to see the time, money and human resource wasted on quixotic crusades that are founded in fantasy and not fact.

This planet changed irrevocably when Homo sapiens sapiens stepped out of Africa a while back. We have to understand the inevitability and the irrevocability of the consequences of the Human Adventure.

But that still ongoing environmental change was not anything as harsh as when the icecaps melted 11,600 or so years ago; or when the ice returns once more.

If we arrogate unto ourselves the task of managing the change we have wrought and will continue to wreak on the biosphere, we must use every ounce of our cool reason. We must be as sober as judges; for decisions once made, are often impossible to undo.

This is my point. Nothing else.

shannon

shannon.di.corse@gmail.con

robguz24 · 10-13-2013, 06:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shannondicorse

PR,

In addition, these vendettas are possibly attempts to create (taxpayer-subsidised) extermination industries by playing on xenophobia, paranoia and general ignorance of the populace.

Call a species "dangerous", "alien" or "invasive" and it stirs up primeval human instincts that often throw reason and commonsense out of the window.

We have another non-native "coqui", Eleutherodactylus johnstonei here on Trinidad; it has not interacted with the native E. urichi; and has found a niche in built environments - where other amphibians, dependent on water to reproduce, cannot inhabit.

Similarly, there is this flap locally about the Giant African Snail, Lissachatina fulica, recently introduced to Trinidad. Innocent $$$ are spent on the negative press... but the molluscs are less ravenous than several slugs here.

Reminds me of those panicky reports that the banana was going to go extinct because of FOC TR4.

Ha!

shannon

shannon.di.corse@gmail.com

Unfortunately shannon, it's quite the opposite here. Very little effort was made to eradicate the species when it first got here. It first showed up in the poorest, least touristy part of the state. Other islands and regions have been more aggressive in trying to control or eradicate them. On the Big Island wet side, there is no real point in trying except in some of the higher elevation areas they haven't quite spread to. With no predators, they have already evolved in some cases to make noise about 21 hours per day instead of just at night. Hawaii has no native amphibians or reptiles, and only 1 native land mammal, a type of bat. So there really is no comparison to it becoming established somewhere that has native amphibians, let alone other native types of coqui.

Very little is spent on invasive species eradication and control here. Again, our little state leads the nation in endangered species, with something like 1/3 of all the endangered species nationwide being in Hawaii. The problem here is lack of concern about them, and the ignorance strongly leads in the direction of ignorance of the impact on our fragile endemic ecosystems. In the scheme of things, coqui are low on the impact list compared to many invasive plants. There is also very little being done about those plants with a few exceptions, the strawberry guava being one of them. The state has introduced a pest which is expected to at least slow the spread of this plant.

The person who runs that site was also active in trying to prevent the eradication of invasive mangrove here.

shannondicorse · 10-13-2013, 07:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by robguz24

...Very little is spent on invasive species eradication and control here. Again, our little state leads the nation in endangered species, with something like 1/3 of all the endangered species nationwide being in Hawaii. The problem here is lack of concern about them, and the ignorance strongly leads in the direction of ignorance of the impact on our fragile endemic ecosystems. In the scheme of things, coqui are low on the impact list compared to many invasive plants. There is also very little being done about those plants with a few exceptions, the strawberry guava being one of them. The state has introduced a pest which is expected to at least slow the spread of this plant.

The person who runs that site was also active in trying to prevent the eradication of invasive mangrove here.

robguz,

The problem is once humans set foot on on the Hawaiian archipelago - once any species establishes itself there - it likely changed/s things forever.

Humans are a bit unusual in that they bring a welter of species with them on an ongoing basis. Other species just attract a handful of pests, pathogens and commensals.

All we can do is build robustness in the new ecosystem that results - so we have to take a systems approach. We can't go back to the old ecosystem - it's gone forever.

The criteria that I suggest should be used in a way forward is to ask the questions:

1) Did we deeply understand the old ecosystem?

2) Do we understand the likely paths to the new ecosystem resulting from the inadvertent floristic/faunistic change? And, in this latter task, we ought to be proactive and envision likely additions.

3) Given the understanding that we cannot go back - where do we want to go?

My suggestion, again, is that we want robustness in the ecosystem; and we ought to want to minimise species or genetic erosion.

The example with Strawberry Guava is a good one; you've put in negative feedback loops. If enough of these are put in the network; it stabilises it and prevent population oscillations that might threaten species and genetic diversity.

That's where the brains and money have to be put - into mitigation of the untoward effects of invaders... and stabilising the new ecosystems so that they can maximise diversity.

Because come the invaders will. This is, after all, the Anthropocene.

Unfortunately, few environmentalists tend to think like this. They are mostly rigid ideologues - and that, I think, is the Achilles Heel of the movement.

Very sincerely,

shannon

shannon.di.corse@gmail.com

robguz24 · 10-13-2013, 08:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shannondicorse

robguz,

The problem is once humans set foot on on the Hawaiian archipelago - once any species establishes itself there - it likely changed/s things forever.

Humans are a bit unusual in that they bring a welter of species with them on an ongoing basis. Other species just attract a handful of pests, pathogens and commensals.

All we can do is build robustness in the new ecosystem that results - so we have to take a systems approach. We can't go back to the old ecosystem - it's gone forever.

The criteria that I suggest should be used in a way forward is to ask the questions:

1) Did we deeply understand the old ecosystem?

2) Do we understand the likely paths to the new ecosystem resulting from the inadvertent floristic/faunistic change? And, in this latter task, we ought to be proactive and envision likely additions.

3) Given the understanding that we cannot go back - where do we want to go?

My suggestion, again, is that we want robustness in the ecosystem; and we ought to want to minimise species or genetic erosion.

The example with Strawberry Guava is a good one; you've put in negative feedback loops. If enough of these are put in the network; it stabilises it and prevent population oscillations that might threaten species and genetic diversity.

That's where the brains and money have to be put - into mitigation of the untoward effects of invaders... and stabilising the new ecosystems so that they can maximise diversity.

Because come the invaders will. This is, after all, the Anthropocene.

Unfortunately, few environmentalists tend to think like this. They are mostly rigid ideologues - and that, I think, is the Achilles Heel of the movement.

Very sincerely,

shannon

shannon.di.corse@gmail.com

There are of course, opportunities for eradication once things have not gotten to the point of becoming permanently established. There are also areas that in which certain particularly destructive species can be eradicated and in which native species that would otherwise go extinct can be saved. We certainly can go back in some regards and with certain species and other areas can be quite well preserved, with few non-native species.

I was of the understanding that our current global rate of species extinction is on par with some of the larger mass extinctions. While the Hawaiians themselves irrevocably changed something like 80% of the land below 1500' elevation in Hawaii, that still left a lot of more pristine areas higher up.

sunfish · 10-13-2013, 09:36 PM

Coqui frogs given rare sanctuary on Hawaii Island - YouTube

shannondicorse · 10-14-2013, 05:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by robguz24

....I was of the understanding that our current global rate of species extinction is on par with some of the larger mass extinctions...

robguz,

This simply isn't so. 'Anthropocene' extinction pales by comparison to what happened over and over again in the last 3 million years.

Our world is filled with marketers. They sell everything: Expensive Climate Change Mitigation/Carbon Credits; Expensive Health Care; Expensive Banana Breeding Programmes; ...and good ol' Warfare. You name it they sell it - never cheaply.

Like all good sales people they are slick. And to be fair, many of them passionately believe their stories.

If you listen to them without thinking critically, with blind passion - and without independent access to the facts - they even make sense.

Very sincerely,

shannon

shannon.di.corse@gmail.com

PR-Giants · 10-14-2013, 07:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by caliboy1994

We're not going to say that rats in Hawaii aren't bad, right?

Good idea, start with killing all the rats and after you're finished, then have a debate on who's next.

PR-Giants · 10-14-2013, 07:33 AM

University of Hawai'i at Manoa - Control of Coqui Frog in Hawai'i

"in Hawai`i, mating pairs produce a clutch every 2½ weeks without loss of fertility – that’s 26 clutches a year"

Why Are Coqui Frogs a Problem in Hawai'i?

"Coqui frogs have a voracious appetite that puts Hawai'i’s unique insects and spiders at risk."

"They can also compete with endemic birds and other native fauna that rely on insects for food."

"Scientists are also concerned that an established coqui frog population may serve as a

readily available food source if (or when) brown tree snakes are accidentally introduced in Hawai'i"

Hawai'i is lucky we sent the Coqui instead of the Chupacabra.

PR-Giants · 10-14-2013, 07:41 AM

Home Depot was saved

"Early successes include removing coquis from a landscaped area of the Iwilei Home Depot parking lot"

Honolulu Star-Bulletin News

shannondicorse · 10-14-2013, 07:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PR-Giants

University of Hawai'i at Manoa - Control of Coqui Frog in Hawai'i

"in Hawai`i, mating pairs produce a clutch every 2½ weeks without loss of fertility – that’s 26 clutches a year"

Why Are Coqui Frogs a Problem in Hawai'i?

"Coqui frogs have a voracious appetite that puts Hawai'i’s unique insects and spiders at risk."

"They can also compete with endemic birds and other native fauna that rely on insects for food."

"Scientists are also concerned that an established coqui frog population may serve as a

readily available food source if (or when) brown tree snakes are accidentally introduced in Hawai'i"

Hawai'i is lucky we sent the Coqui instead of the Chupacabra.

PR,

Isolated evolved in situ "island biomes" have histories of chaotic collapse, because there is no evolved robustness of the ecosystem. Once a random new species makes landfall and establishes itself it can destroy a lot.

The solution, I assert, is not to fritter away resources on keeping things out; but to focus on building robustness in a way that preserves the pre-invasion diversity as far as practically possible.

This means investment in high-quality quantitative field studies and supercomputer simulations to understand the ecosystem dynamics; with prescribed action being taken after.

For some island species this means that they will only remain extant in preserves and other artificially maintained collections. For some substantial majority there might be hope that they can survive in a re-engineered wilderness.

This is not a view that appeals to many environmentalist-conservationists.

My heart bleeds for the fruit flies of Hawaii and the little frogs of Puerto Rico. But Eden is gone forever. And to build a conservation strategy based on a return to Eden is folly.

shannon

shannon.di.corse@gmail

wolfyhound · 10-14-2013, 09:10 AM

Florida has a massively increasing population of Cuban tree frogs. And as charming as I find Cuban tree frogs(I had one for a while named Gilbert the Creepy Tree Frog), they are destroying native frogs. In many places the native tree frogs disappear entirely and there's nothing but the Cubans.

I love frogs. I love most all critters in fact. But non-native species are a huge issue and making it all about how wonderfully cute the little froggies are and how "every creature is precious" isn't realistic when trying to rehab a ecosystem. How much has Hawaii already lost?

People trying to "fix" things is how Florida ended up with Cane Toads. When they decide on a course of action it should be in conjunction with a lot of study to make certain they're not making things worse(spraying whole jungles with poisons??).

PR-Giants · 10-14-2013, 10:31 AM

"cane/marine toads (

Bufo marinuss

), which also have been introduced to Hawai'i"

Biology and Impacts of Pacific Island Invasive Species. 8. Eleutherodactylus Planirostris, the Greenhouse Frog (Anura: Eleutherodactylidae) - Pacific Science | HighBeam Research

robguz24 · 10-14-2013, 11:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shannondicorse

robguz,

This simply isn't so. 'Anthropocene' extinction pales by comparison to what happened over and over again in the last 3 million years.

Our world is filled with marketers. They sell everything: Expensive Climate Change Mitigation/Carbon Credits; Expensive Health Care; Expensive Banana Breeding Programmes; ...and good ol' Warfare. You name it they sell it - never cheaply.

Like all good sales people they are slick. And to be fair, many of them passionately believe their stories.

If you listen to them without thinking critically, with blind passion - and without independent access to the facts - they even make sense.

Very sincerely,

shannon

shannon.di.corse@gmail.com

Conflating scientists working on protecting native species with the military industrial complex and health insurance companies isn't serving your arguments well. I'll let our governor know he can go ahead and fire all the inspectors that are actively keeping out previously unintroduced snakes (we have none), plants, and plant diseases. Wow, what an expensive waste of resources!

caliboy1994 · 10-14-2013, 06:20 PM

It is true that we may live in a new geological era where Earth's ecology and biochemistry is being heavily altered by the influence of mankind, but that doesn't give us the excuse to be passively accepting of it and not do anything about it. As the new dominant species on the planet, it is OUR responsibility to make sure that our actions don't ruin the planet's preexisting ecological balance, and if our actions are doing so then we need to make a coordinated effort to mitigate these impacts. We are intelligent; we have all of the capabilities, resources, and know-how to make sure that our own presence doesn't screw everything up. There is no point in advocating not trying to lessen the current impacts we are having on Earth's biosphere and not trying to clean up the messes we have made. Because if we allow ourselves to ruin everything, we are nothing more than a cancer on the face of the Earth that will cause long-lasting or even irreversible damage to its systems.

10-13-2013, 11:21 AM	#1 (permalink)
PR-Giants Commercial Grower Location: Florida & Greater Antilles Find me on the map! Join Date: Feb 2012 Posts: 4,710 BananaBucks : 235 Feedback: 16 / 100% Said "Thanks" 2,954 Times Was Thanked 12,894 Times in 3,784 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 3,225 Times	Hawaiian Coqui Killers Hawaiian Coqui, Facts about the coqui in Hawaii "This moral depravity reached its zenith in 2007, with a planned Coqui Bounty Hunter contest to be held by public schools on the Big Island. Schools instructed students to kill coquis, either by burning them with acid, cooking them alive, or freezing them. The school with the most "kills" would receive a prize -- the violent video games Playstation 3 and Xbox. The contest was canceled once it was pointed out to the schools that students are supposed to receive humane, not inhumane, education" __________________ PR-Giants Photo Gallery 15,000+ Varieties Last edited by PR-Giants : 10-13-2013 at 11:45 AM.

10-13-2013, 01:20 PM	#2 (permalink)
robguz24 Rob Location: Kalapana, Hawaii Find me on the map! Zone: 11 Name: Rob Join Date: Sep 2010 Posts: 1,506 BananaBucks : 282,765 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 1,320 Times Was Thanked 4,961 Times in 1,080 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 204 Times	Re: Hawaiian Coqui Killers The guy that runs that site, who lives near me, is notorious for advocating for the protection of invasive species to the detriment of native species, here in the endangered species capital of the US. They are here to stay here and have no natural predators. They also love bananas, so they love my yard. They do get so loud here it's difficult to watch TV in the evening without blasting it or closing all the doors and windows, and many people have learned to live with sleeping with earplugs. It's nice to visit other islands where it's wonderfully quiet at night. I remember reading about that sick contest too. __________________ My micro-farm Stay on my Big Island banana farm cottage

10-13-2013, 03:38 PM	#3 (permalink)
PR-Giants Commercial Grower Location: Florida & Greater Antilles Find me on the map! Join Date: Feb 2012 Posts: 4,710 BananaBucks : 235 Feedback: 16 / 100% Said "Thanks" 2,954 Times Was Thanked 12,894 Times in 3,784 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 3,225 Times	Re: Hawaiian Coqui Killers If you live in a concrete house, I can fully understand, the echoes seem louder than the original chirp. In a wooden house it is much easier on the ears. __________________ PR-Giants Photo Gallery 15,000+ Varieties

10-13-2013, 04:34 PM	#4 (permalink)
caliboy1994 <div style="font-style: italic;"><div style="font-style: italic;"></div></div> caliboy1994's Photo Gallery Location: SFV, California Find me on the map! Zone: USDA zone 10a; Sunset zone 18/19 Name: Andreas Join Date: Sep 2011 Posts: 2,301 BananaBucks : 285,205 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 1,474 Times Was Thanked 2,196 Times in 1,148 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 236 Times	Re: Hawaiian Coqui Killers That article is clearly trying to downplay the issue of invasive species. I live in California, which is another state where invasive species have run rampant. They have completely overhauled and transformed ecosystems, and have driven many native species close to extinction. The grasslands that cover much of California were once perennial and green year round, but thanks to introduced European annual grasses they dry out in the summer, which increases fire hazard substantially. They have also displaced native grasses, driving some of them close to extinction. Now, undisturbed native grasslands are extremely difficult to find in this state. Not all introduced species are detrimental, but those that disrupt the balance of an ecosystem don't belong. Here at least, most of the worst invasive species are plants (the Argentine ant is a very notable exception). But whatever the case, if an introduced species poses a threat to either humans or the native ecosystem, they should be eradicated. I can tell you as an environmental scientist that that's the best course of action. Rob, I'm sure you know how bad strawberry guava is in Hawaii. Non-native European grasses are like strawberry guava on crack here. The entire grassland community on the mountain behind my house in Southern California has been COMPLETELY taken over by wild oats, another European invasive grass. The only things you'll see in the affected area besides wild oats is wild mustard (another terrible invasive) and perhaps a few native wildflowers. __________________ "The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings." ~ Masanobu Fukuoka Find me on linktree here as Solarpunk Farmer: https://linktr.ee/solarpunkfarmer

10-14-2013, 07:33 AM	#14 (permalink)
PR-Giants Commercial Grower Location: Florida & Greater Antilles Find me on the map! Join Date: Feb 2012 Posts: 4,710 BananaBucks : 235 Feedback: 16 / 100% Said "Thanks" 2,954 Times Was Thanked 12,894 Times in 3,784 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 3,225 Times	Re: Hawaiian Coqui Killers University of Hawai'i at Manoa - Control of Coqui Frog in Hawai'i "in Hawai`i, mating pairs produce a clutch every 2½ weeks without loss of fertility – that’s 26 clutches a year" Why Are Coqui Frogs a Problem in Hawai'i? "Coqui frogs have a voracious appetite that puts Hawai'i’s unique insects and spiders at risk." "They can also compete with endemic birds and other native fauna that rely on insects for food." "Scientists are also concerned that an established coqui frog population may serve as a readily available food source if (or when) brown tree snakes are accidentally introduced in Hawai'i" Hawai'i is lucky we sent the Coqui instead of the Chupacabra. __________________ PR-Giants Photo Gallery 15,000+ Varieties Last edited by PR-Giants : 10-14-2013 at 07:36 AM.

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10-14-2013, 07:41 AM	#15 (permalink)
PR-Giants Commercial Grower Location: Florida & Greater Antilles Find me on the map! Join Date: Feb 2012 Posts: 4,710 BananaBucks : 235 Feedback: 16 / 100% Said "Thanks" 2,954 Times Was Thanked 12,894 Times in 3,784 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 3,225 Times	Re: Hawaiian Coqui Killers Home Depot was saved "Early successes include removing coquis from a landscaped area of the Iwilei Home Depot parking lot" Honolulu Star-Bulletin News __________________ PR-Giants Photo Gallery 15,000+ Varieties

10-14-2013, 09:10 AM	#17 (permalink)
wolfyhound Location: NE Florida Find me on the map! Zone: 9 Name: Wolfyhound Join Date: Jan 2013 Posts: 406 BananaBucks : 62,253 Feedback: 1 / 100% Said "Thanks" 393 Times Was Thanked 423 Times in 195 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 67 Times	Re: Hawaiian Coqui Killers Florida has a massively increasing population of Cuban tree frogs. And as charming as I find Cuban tree frogs(I had one for a while named Gilbert the Creepy Tree Frog), they are destroying native frogs. In many places the native tree frogs disappear entirely and there's nothing but the Cubans. I love frogs. I love most all critters in fact. But non-native species are a huge issue and making it all about how wonderfully cute the little froggies are and how "every creature is precious" isn't realistic when trying to rehab a ecosystem. How much has Hawaii already lost? People trying to "fix" things is how Florida ended up with Cane Toads. When they decide on a course of action it should be in conjunction with a lot of study to make certain they're not making things worse(spraying whole jungles with poisons??).

10-14-2013, 10:31 AM	#18 (permalink)
PR-Giants Commercial Grower Location: Florida & Greater Antilles Find me on the map! Join Date: Feb 2012 Posts: 4,710 BananaBucks : 235 Feedback: 16 / 100% Said "Thanks" 2,954 Times Was Thanked 12,894 Times in 3,784 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 3,225 Times	Re: Hawaiian Coqui Killers "cane/marine toads (Bufo marinuss), which also have been introduced to Hawai'i" Biology and Impacts of Pacific Island Invasive Species. 8. Eleutherodactylus Planirostris, the Greenhouse Frog (Anura: Eleutherodactylidae) - Pacific Science \| HighBeam Research __________________ PR-Giants Photo Gallery 15,000+ Varieties

10-14-2013, 06:20 PM	#20 (permalink)
caliboy1994 <div style="font-style: italic;"><div style="font-style: italic;"></div></div> caliboy1994's Photo Gallery Location: SFV, California Find me on the map! Zone: USDA zone 10a; Sunset zone 18/19 Name: Andreas Join Date: Sep 2011 Posts: 2,301 BananaBucks : 285,205 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 1,474 Times Was Thanked 2,196 Times in 1,148 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 236 Times	Re: Hawaiian Coqui Killers It is true that we may live in a new geological era where Earth's ecology and biochemistry is being heavily altered by the influence of mankind, but that doesn't give us the excuse to be passively accepting of it and not do anything about it. As the new dominant species on the planet, it is OUR responsibility to make sure that our actions don't ruin the planet's preexisting ecological balance, and if our actions are doing so then we need to make a coordinated effort to mitigate these impacts. We are intelligent; we have all of the capabilities, resources, and know-how to make sure that our own presence doesn't screw everything up. There is no point in advocating not trying to lessen the current impacts we are having on Earth's biosphere and not trying to clean up the messes we have made. Because if we allow ourselves to ruin everything, we are nothing more than a cancer on the face of the Earth that will cause long-lasting or even irreversible damage to its systems. __________________ "The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings." ~ Masanobu Fukuoka Find me on linktree here as Solarpunk Farmer: https://linktr.ee/solarpunkfarmer Last edited by caliboy1994 : 10-14-2013 at 06:25 PM.

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