C.H.I.R.P.
The Coqui Hawaiian Integration and Reeducation Project
P.O. Box 1880 Pahoa, Hawaii 96778 
(808) 935-5563 email: info@HawaiianCoqui.org

New F.R.O.G. Program Offers HUMANE Solution to Hawaiian Coqui Crisis

(Pahoa, Hawaii) Got Coquis? Want them gone? Send them back to Puerto Rico!

For those wanting a kinder approach to coqui control, CHIRP has started the Frog Repatriation and Overseas Gifting (F.R.O.G.) Program. Puerto Rican Representative Acevedo-Vila has stated that Puerto Rico would welcome the coquis back, since that is their native land and Puerto Ricans love these little frogs so much. And many other tropical nations, which are now experiencing distressing declines in tree frog numbers, may also welcome these coqui refugees from Hawaii.

There is currently no humane, legal way to control the frogs. The Hawaii Department of Agriculture and the USDA Wildlife Services suggest that you catch the frogs and then cook or freeze them to death. Or you can remove all the tropical vegetation around your home and spray citric acid all over, which will burn the frogs to death in about 45 minutes, along with innumerable “non-target” creatures such as geckos and arthropods. These methods, as well as the use of hydrated lime to burn and dry out the frogs, are extremely inhumane, causing unnecessary pain and suffering. (The Environmental Protection Agency nixed the use of caffeine as a pesticide.)

F.R.O.G. is negotiating with the DOA for necessary export and inter-island transportation permits. Once fully operational, anyone who has caught a coqui and wishes to ship it, instead of kill it, can contact F.R.O.G. for coqui collection.

In addition to providing a humane method for dealing with the coquis, the F.R.O.G. Program also may help slow the spread of the frogs, since some people who are averse to killing the frogs may be catching and illegally releasing them elsewhere in the environment as the only humane alternative. Through F.R.O.G., those who do not appreciate having the coqui can send them as gifts to those who do.

For more information, contact Sydney Ross Singer at 808-935-5563.