To: The Hawaii State Senate

Stop Coquis from ruining Maui

Hawaii State owns a reservoir of breeding Coqui frogs in its 103-acre Maliko Gulch parcel. The State needs to provide funds for the eradication of this literally deafening invasive frog.

Why is this important?

Dear Senator,

We are writing to formally request that Hawaii State make a Line Item Allocation in the state budget for the eradication of the invasive and deafening Coqui frog, to match the budget allocated annually by Maui County for the eradication of Coqui frogs by Maui Invasive Species Committee.
One single Coqui frog chirps at 95 decibels and Noise-Induced Hearing loss starts at 85 decibels. The density of Coqui frog population without its native snake predator has reached 36,000 per acre but could reach a higher density with time. The State of Hawaii owns Maui’s most infested parcel of land in Maliko Gulch where Coqui frogs have been multiplying and carried downstream for years. The density of Coqui’s in Maliko Gulch is causing an overflow of coquis out of the state’s land to all nearby neighborhoods, forcing residents to have to spray their own properties or suffer loss of sleep and for some, noise-induced hearing loss in the form of 24/7 tinnitus or ringing in the ears.
The State of Hawaii should take responsibility for the noise-induced hearing loss health hazard caused by Coqui Frogs. This year is the ‘Point of No Return’ in which state legislators will make the decision to either support an eradication budget for Coqui frogs in time, or fail to do so before it is too late, thus condemning future generations of Maui citizens to suffer sleepless nights as well as noise-induced hearing loss.
Previous budgets intended to ‘control’ Coqui have been inadequate because Coqui frogs literally hitchhike on cars for 25+ miles, or in recycle refuse or green waste dumped into difficult to reach gulches, etc., and a whole new population for Maui Invasive Species Committee to tackle taking their time away from the state’s Maliko Gulch dense population of coqui frogs.
We hope you will choose to save Maui from the fate that has befallen Big Island. Maui Invasive Species Committee confirms that this year’s budget is our last chance before the spread of coquis can no longer be controlled or eradicated like Big Island.