The Eradication of A Species… Just Because!

 

The "unofficial" symbol of Puerto Rico

“Coquí is the common name for several species of small frogs endemic to the archipelago of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands,onomatopoeically named for the loud sound (sometimes reaching as high as 100 dB)[citation needed] the males make at night, even though only two species make the sound “coqui”, the common coqui and the mountain coqui. The Common Coquí is the unofficial symbol of Puerto Rico.

- WikiPedia”

In my native Puerto Rico, I remember falling asleep to the beautiful chirping of our island’s enigmatic forest (and city alike) dweller. Being lulled to sleep by coquis by night is an experience that you can only have for yourself; it’s quite hard to explain to someone else…

A Puerto Rican living away from home will long to hear these frogs at night, in place of the traffic and blaring horns of the big city, preferring to sleep by these chirping sounds to that of sirens and trains in the distance.

So imagine my surprise when I came across an interesting article, and eventually a website that opened my eyes to the atrocities being committed against one of nature’s (in my opinion) beautiful creatures:

AS OF January, 2008, the coqui frogs are still under attack in Hawaii. Millions of dollars have been spent to spray the jungles with acid and caustic lime (calcium hydroxide) in order to burn the frogs to death.

It takes 45 minutes to kill coquis with acid or calcium hydroxide, a painful and inhumane practice that also burns lizards, spiders, insects, birds, cats and dogs, plants, and anything else unfortunate enough to be in the spray’s path. 

Ok, I’m going to play the Devil’s Advocate for a while here…
You wake up (suddently?) one day to realize that a species not native to your environment has show up, and for some reason it creates the most horrible sound at night that prevents you from sleeping. So the first thing you do is to write a letter to your congressman man to (erradicate/obliterate) this new nuisance by declaring it a “plant pest”. I am  angry that this damn thing has shown up on my doorstep and is making the most horrible (understandably?) noise that I have ever heard. Hmmm… How to get rid of it? I know! Let use a chemical bath to burn them to dea….

I have to stop, because even the thought horrifies me. It reminds me of another event in world history, that was even more appalling, and leaves me to wonder if we have actually made any progress as humans.

¡No seas idiota, cabron! If the frog breathed fire and burned people alive, blew your cars up and charred your homes, yo puedo entender… But a plant pest? Is that the best you can come up with?

Look, just do me a favour, and educate yourself a bit about this frog, before eradicating the little guy, just for the sake of “I don’t like his song”. Hawaiiancoqui.org, as well as El Boricua, are just a few places to get information about this frog. 

For those who’ve never heard the coqui’s song, here’s a great clip:

Do you really think the Coqui is a pest? Please let me know…

 

 

T.

Citizen or not? Tales of a Puerto Rican

Ok, I’m going to say this one more time; pay close attention. I am NOT a national, and neither am I international. I am a US Citizen, and as such have the rights that all other Americans do. Write that down in your notebook, cause this is lesson #3…

Let me start from the beginning… Recently my wife and I went to a popular business to send of a copy of our wedding CD to our family in Puerto Rico; you know, that tiny country that you can get to in about 8 hours if you head south into Florida (assuming you’re in the midwest), then drive right off the beach into the water in the general direction of Cuba. After filling out all the approriate information, including a 5-digit zip code (you know, like all cities in the US have?), I handed the clerk my paperwork and my sealed CD. “I can’t find the zip code on our system, what state is PR?”, was the question, to which, bemused, I replied “Uhmmm, that would be Puerto Rico…”

“Well, you’ll need to fill out an internationl form instead.”, and my reply was, “Are you aware that Puerto Rico is a US territory?”. And his reply? “Sorry sir, but that is company policy. Oh, and did you say that you were sending a CD? Then you’ll also need to fill out this customs declaration form; it’ll make things easier when your CD gets there.”. It really will, huh?

Let me start explaining here with a little bit of history. Puerto Rico was ceeded to the US (by Spain) in 1898 (that’s right, over 100 years ago), and thus, all its citizens, became UNITED STATES CITIZENS! You would think this enough time that this would earn us a sure spot on the citizen scope of this country; but no!!!, I still get stupid questions like “How long does it take to drive to Puerto Rico?” Or my favourite “How do people get around in Puerto Rico?” Why, with the old horse and buggy, sir…

In case you lost your dictionary, or don’t know how to use one, let me help here a bit. In the US, when you use the word “national”, you’re reffering to someone born outside the US, but has become a resident. If you are living in France, then you are a US national, living in France… Do you see where I’m going with this?

Now on to the point of being an international country… If you mail a package to Hawaii, are you sending that package to an international destination? Of course not! And why would that be? Well, because it is a US state. Ok, so “Puerto Rico is not a state!” is your response… But the fact remains… We are US territory, with representation in the senate, with a US postal service, etc.

I am an american citizen; you may not like it, but I am an AMERICAN nonetheless… So stop calling me a “national”, I am not from an international country, and don’t treat me like an illegal alien. This is my home, just as it is yours…

T.