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Originally Posted by WhiteRabbit
Good to know they don't seem to be a problem
I don't think its quite possible to round them all up to send back ? Can't imagine how that would be done lol
Anyway - love the pix of the dart frogs - theyre beautiful
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Pardon my persistence, but that argument doesn't make sense to me. If they're able to find them and steam them to death. I believe that they'd be able to find them and round them up to send over to Puerto Rico. You can't steam something to death if the target is 20 feet away. And how would it be possible to steam the frogs to death but not damage the plants that were ready for export? If there's such a technology, I sure as heck would like to know about it 'cause that's flippin' cool.
Here's the scenario I think is closer to what the real reason behind the extermination of the Coqui are.
1. The people of Hawaii are aware of the threats an invasive species has on the ecosystem.
Hawaiians are aware of accidental introductions such as those pesky snakes that were killing off the native birds.
Also, mistakes of introducing animals like the mongoose, which pretty much helped either directly or indirectly wipe out many of Hawaii's native species of birds, or at least threatened certain species to the brink of extinction instead of controlling the accidentally introduced snake species like it was originally intended, left a bad taste in people's mouths (or at least those who care or remember such things).
Stuff like this lingers. Especially if the mistake doesn't go away (which, from my understanding hasn't). It can be embarrassing.
2. If the Coqui produce mating calls in great numbers that are so loud that they make people lose sleep, and if I were one of those people, man I'd be pissed too.
Generally speaking, obviously people who are exhausted or angry don't have the patience or the energy to think clearly about anything.
If I were in that position, I could understand why people would say, "F--k those Coqui, I want them gone!"
3. The Coqui are not as colorful or attractive as the Green Poison Dart Frog (I love dart frogs btw).
4. Their numbers also seem to have boomed which went against the notion that their population would be maintained at an acceptable level (by human standards).
5. Money. From what I understand, there's more money involved in their extermination rather than in efforts of relocation.
6. No one in Hawaii wants to introduce any supposed natural predators of the Coqui because historically speaking that kind of stuff never worked, so I totally understand this.
I dunno, if it were me, I'd try to stay calm and level, and say something to the effect of this...
I know realistically speaking that it'd be very difficult to totally eradicate all the Coqui from the islands of Hawaii. I also understand they're bugging the living cr@p out of me and other people in Hawaii the way they are. But Puerto Ricans love them and that's their natural habitat. They might actually have natural predators there too. Why don't a group of people and I make the efforts to send them from Hawaii where they seem to be flourishing like no other, to Puerto Rico where the local populations are suffering. Whatever's left in Hawaii, I'll just have to live with, oh well...
Who knows, this might be an opportunity to start great public relations between a US state with a US territory. Might lead to something good later down the line. Sounds like a win-win.