Exotics....

The cold cold front of January 1st/2nd, knocked a lot of reptiles for a whirl as they fell out of trees... Found this poor tree frog (left pic) barely hanging on... Near lifeless sitting in the middle of the dock amongst the mangroves that overhang.

Wonder if he's an exotic though. The invasive exotic cuban tree frog has been displacing the native tree frogs. They are invasive exotics in Florida; exotic because they are not native AND invasive because they eat many native species and are a threat to Florida's natural biodiversity.

Cuban treefrogs are believed to have been introduced into Florida in 1931 in cargo imported from Cuba.

The "management" technique for dealing with invasive exotics...??? Killing them.
It's not the animal's fault that they have been brought to a place where they grow, thrive, and multiply. They are not consciously doing wrong. Simply survival of the fittest. Typical human style though, we screw things up, affect the natural balance, and now believe we should be practicing management by death. As if we have the power to decide which species is more important. We're probably going to kill off the only things that are able to survive in the new world that we are creating. and, personally, if we're such idiots that we can't learn from mistakes that have been made over and over and over and over again... we don't deserve the enjoyment of the many special critters that have been existing long before we came along and started destroying everything. Kharma. the law of cause and effect.

Even the beloved sea turtle. Most who know me know how I feel about sea turtles. Even though I love sea turtles, I still believe that we should not be killing one species to protect another. One management by death practice includes killing of raccoons, which happen to be natives, in order to protect sea turtles. As much as I love sea turtles, I would never be able to kill a raccoon. Is the raccoon's life really that much less important than the sea turtle? Why is the sea turtle's life that much more important? Who exactly decided that? It pains me that sea turtles are endangered. Let's learn from that, instead of simply deciding to kill something else. Why are sea turtles endangered? Is it because we've over-fished them? perhaps destroyed the various habitats they need to survive? brought their populations to levels not sustainable with the continued pressures they face both natural and human caused. Sea turtles overall don't seem to be bouncing back even with regulations. Why is that? Have we gone too far with our destruction? cause and effect.

As I'm writing this, it's been confirmed by one of my fellow biologists that the frog I found is more than likely a cuban tree frog. So, should I have taken advantage of the fact that he was at my mercy and killed him? would that have been more humane then letting him continue to eat up the native species? I don't know what the right answer is. I just know that it's very difficult for me to decide to personally inflict suffering and death on another being. Why are we putting ourselves into this position?

We are all children running amuck in a room of beautifully arranged glass dominos.