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Thursday, May 31, 2001




CRAIG T. KOJIMA / STAR-BULLETIN
Invertebrate and aquatic biota specialist Domingo Cravalho Jr.
looked over an ornate horned frog yesterday at the state
Department of Agriculture Plant Quarantine Station.



Baby frogs suggest
more aliens still on loose


By Leila Fujimori
Star-Bulletin

State plant quarantine officials are concerned that more than 900 illegal alien frogs, known in the pet trade as the "Pac-Man frog," may be hopping around Hawaii.

That is because an unidentified man turned in 18 ornate horned frogs Sunday to the Honolulu Zoo under the state's amnesty program and said they belonged to a friend.

Because the frogs are less than a month old, Domingo Cravalho Jr., quarantine invertebrate and aquatic species specialist, thinks it is likely the parents and hundreds of siblings are still free. The female ornate horned frog lays about 1,000 eggs at a time. The cannibalistic frogs, however, may have fed upon fellow hatchlings, he said.

Although the amphibians are sold in pet shops on the mainland and on the Internet, if let loose they could threaten Hawaii's ecosystem because they would feed on native insects.

"They do give a nasty bite," Cravalho said. The carnivorous frogs' hingelike mouths are as wide as their girth and could be dangerous to young children.

The frogs are an inch long and green with brown patterns. They grow up to 6 inches long and a pound in weight. The frogs can swallow prey up to their own body size, and feed on frogs, lizards, mice and large insects.

The frogs, under the quarantine agency's custody yesterday, will be turned over to the Honolulu Zoo today and will be shipped to the mainland.

Anyone caught with illegal animals faces up to a $200,000 penalty and three years' imprisonment.

Anyone possessing illegal animals or with information may call 586-7378.



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