When Kailua resident Nancy Hickok first heard the coqui frog during a vacation to Puerto Rico about 10 years ago, she kept the window open to enjoy the “;jungle”; sound of the male's mating call.

Kailua Residents On Alert For Coqui Frog

 

Concerned windward residents are preparing for battle against the dreaded coqui frog.

 

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  A few years ago in Hilo, Hickok heard the coqui again, but that time it was by the thousands.

“;The sound was all blended together into one 'Eeee!'”; Hickok told the Kailua Neighborhood Board yesterday during a discussion about four coqui frogs recently found in Kailua. “;You're not going to like the sounds. The public, if they haven't heard ... they haven't any clue.”;

Worried that the state is not doing enough to protect Oahu residents from a coqui infestation, the neighborhood board passed a motion yesterday urging the state Department of Agriculture to require mandatory spraying of all plants imported into Oahu as a first line of defense against the coqui.

The department, however, said it is already inspecting all plants that come to Oahu from the Big Island.

Native to Puerto Rico, the coqui has been known to keep residents awake at night and is a nuisance in areas on the Big Island where populations are dense.

Experts say the frogs hitchhike to Oahu from the Big Island on plants, but Big Isle infestations have grown so much, possibly exceeding 10,000 per acre, that frogs have been found in boat engines and a cargo load of ceramics. Without a natural predator in Hawaii, the frog competes with native birds for food and also serves as an additional food source for the birds' natural predators. This, in turn, increases the populations of those predators, which increases the pressure on native bird populations.

Luann Foos, a Kailua resident who wanted to know how to stop the coqui, said she stopped buying plants.

“;Why run the risk?”; she said, adding that she felt the state was doing its hardest to protect Oahu from coqui.

Since four frogs were found in Kailua in July and August, no more have been found on Oahu, said Glenn Sakamoto, an outreach specialist for the Agriculture Department.

He said there have been about 100 calls a day statewide about the coqui recently, but only eight of them appear to be positive leads on Oahu. Inspectors were surveying areas in Hawaii Kai, Mililani, Makiki, Waipahu and Aiea, he said.