HILO, HI - The Hawaii Department of Education is training students how to capture and kill frogs as part of a Halloween activity. The school with the most dead frogs will be awarded iPods, SP3's, and XBOX 360's for its efforts.
This frog killing spree is called the Coqui Bounty Hunter campaign, and is being promoted by the Hawaii Department of Education, USDA, University of Hawaii, and County of Hawaii. It is targetted at high schools on the east side of the Big Island, where coqui populations are well established. The students' efforts will not significantly reduce frog numbers, but will teach these kids how to spot, catch, and destroy frogs.
Coqui frogs are adored in their native Puerto Rico, where their nocturnal chirping is considered soothing and the tiny frog is the proud national symbol. In Hawaii, the sound of their chirping is new to the islands, and some people find it annoying. They kill coquis by burning them with acid or hydrated lime, freezing them, or cooking them. The students are being instructed in all these methods.
Despite years of funding a “Frog War”, government funding for coqui eradication and control has been cut in 2007, and many Hawaii residents are now accepting and appreciating the coqui frog. But some frog haters are still hopping mad and want to train a new generation of Hawaii students to keep the madness going.
These students are being trained in cruelty to animals. The lesson is, if you don't like the sounds of nature, kill it, and win money and prizes for your school! What's next? Raising school funds with cockfights?
To get instructions on how to kill frogs and see what great toys the most deadly school can win in the Coqui Bounty Hunter campaign, go to http://www.stopcoqui.org/Flyercoqui.pdf
To find out more about the efforts to make Hawaii a more humane place for frogs, go to http://www.HawaiianCoqui.org.
Hawaii may have one of the worst educational systems in the country. But we'll have the best frog killers an XBOX can buy.
Soma Grismaijer is the co-director of CHIRP, the Coqui Hawaiian Integration and Reeducation Project. CHIRP has been promoting acceptance of the coqui in Hawaii since 2001. Reach her at mailto:ssinger@coconut-wireless.net
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