Tiny frog sets off big alert in Kailua
POSTED: Saturday, November 01, 2008
| This story has been corrected. See below. |
Four coqui frogs were captured in Kailua recently after disturbing residents with their ear-piercing mating calls and alarming others worried about the critters establishing a colony.
FROG SPOTTINGIf you find coqui frogs, call the Agriculture Department's pest hot line at 643-PEST (7378). |
Kailua Neighborhood Board member Virginia Enos called the Department of Agriculture in July after hearing a coqui frog in her neighbor's yard.
The call could be heard through her whole house, she said. Workers with the Agriculture Department came the next day and caught the frog.
Board members have arranged a public meeting with the state Department of Agriculture on Thursday to talk about ways to stop the coqui.
“;The discussions at the board meeting, they're very alarmed because it's just the beginning,”; said Chuck Prentiss, chairman of the Kailua Neighborhood Board who added that it could become a “;widespread problem.”;
Coqui frogs have been known to keep people awake at night with their noisy mating calls, which can reach 90 decibels, about the equivalent of an operating lawn mower.
Since being introduced to the Big Island in 1988, the frogs, native to Puerto Rico, have become a major nuisance where their populations are dense.
No one knows whether it was the first time that coqui frogs were found in Kailua.
Domingo Cravalho, chief of the Agriculture Department's Inspection and Compliance Section, confirmed that five coqui frogs were found on Windward Oahu recently.
In July and August, besides the Lanikai frog, three other frogs were picked up in Enchanted Lake in Kailua. Another frog was plucked from a Kaneohe garden shop.
Cravalho said in some cases it was uncertain where the frogs came from.
In Enchanted Lake, inspectors questioned residents, but didn't find any solid leads. In Lanikai, inspectors learned that the frog might have come from plants recently purchased from nurseries in Waimanalo and Kaneohe.
Using that information, inspectors went to a garden shop in Kaneohe and found a coqui frog inside the nursery, Cravalho said. Management was instructed to spray its plants, which came from the Big Island.
“;As far as the source, I would have to assume it might have been a recent purchase of a plant that might have had a coqui frog on it,”; Cravalho said.
Since these captures, the department has not received any other reports of coqui frogs in Kailua.
The frogs travel from the Big Island to Oahu and the other islands mainly through plant materials. Lately, the coqui population on Hawaii has grown so large that anything moving from Hilo can be a pathway for the invasive species, Cravalho said.
Lanikai resident Enos said her husband has heard more coqui calls in Kailua since the Lanikai frog was captured.
She said the state is not providing enough public education because her neighbor thought the frog's call was coming from a bird.
Cravalho said that to prevent the spread of coqui, residents should carefully inspect plants and ask retailers about the source of their plants before they buy them. Consumers should also quarantine the plants for a day, placing them in a bathroom overnight and listening for any coqui calls, or submerse the plant in water.
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