It Had to Be Done

I have a Cuban Tree Frog in my freezer and it makes me sad. It's in the freezer because Cuban Tree Frogs are invasive exotic species that outcompete native frog and lizard species for food and habitat, and even eat them. Even their tadpoles compete with other species. Their skin has toxic secretions and they can make other animals that touch or eat them sick. They are causing huge environmental harm here in Florida, outside of their natural habitat with disease and predators that will control their populations. Biologists recommend that if you find a Cuban Tree Frog in Florida, you should kill it. And freezing is a humane way to do this. When I found this big frog sleeping on a fence in my yard, my heart sunk, because I knew what I had to do. I hate killing animals. I tried to find someone who would take it off my hands, someone who would use it to do environmental education or who would keep it in captivity and know to never let it get out or spawn. But I couldn't find anyone like that. And when I looked on line to make sure I was doing the right thing, I read that it was actually illegal to release them and that it was my responsibility to kill it. Wow. Heavy stuff.

Cuban Tree Frog

I'm not entirely sure, but I think it could have been the same Cuban Tree Frog that I found living in a rock cavity on my front porch earlier this summer. I didn't kill that frog because I had no way of getting it out to catch it in the first place. The frog had chosen a very secure hiding space. And so it sat in its hole, day and night, looking out at me like Jabba the Hutt. I checked on it regularly for several days, until one morning, to my relief, I found the hole empty. I immediately plugged it up with a paper towel and the frog did not return. Or so I thought.

Cuban Tree Frog in The Hole

Then last week, when I was cutting bamboo in the yard, I saw it. Big, about twice the size of our native tree frogs, and beige, with huge toe pads. Definitely a Cuban Tree Frog. I was wearing garden gloves for protection, so I reached over and grabbed it. It wasn't at all hard to catch, which made this feel even worse. I put the frog into a plastic mango container and poked some air holes in it, in case I could find someone to take it. I felt guilty taking a photographs of a condemned creature, so I just took a few shots on my phone for a record. I sat the container with the Tree Frog on the table and looked at it, feeling great sadness and respect for the beauty and life of this creature, but also knowing that it was impossible for it to remain here. It was a beautiful animal with huge, patterned eyes, distinctive facial features, and such delicate and interesting toes. And I felt this terrible sense of guilt. Who put me in charge of life or death? But there was even more guilt knowing what would happen if I let it go. This stewardship thing is hard.

Cuban Tree Frog

I read that the preferred way to kill a Cuban Tree Frog is to rub benzocaine or some other topical numbing agent on its abdomen, and then freeze it. This is supposed to knock them out and make the freezing more humane. I am sad to admit that I did not have any benzocaine (but I will buy some to have on hand if I ever need it again) and so I just put the mango container with the frog in the freezer, wrapped in a plastic bag so I couldn't see it. I didn't feel very brave or heroic. I told the frog that I was very sorry, and that if I had found it in another place and time, I would have admired and appreciated it for all its glory. I would have photographed it and told everyone at home about how lucky I was to have seen one of these amazing animals. But this is the sad reality of invasive exotic species. They can be beautiful and wonderful, in their native environment. But outside of that place, they become ecological horrors, through no fault of their own. I have a Cuban Tree Frog in my freezer and it makes me sad.

Friend or Foe?

Google is an amazing tool. You can use it to learn about almost anything. I was moving pots in the yard yesterday and found a bizarre creature curled up under one of the saucers. At first I thought it was a tiny snake. I've found them in the yard before, in about the same location. But this was slimy. I thought for a while that it was just a long worm, but as I looked more closely, I realized that it was much longer than a worm, striped, flat and not segmented, and the most unusual part--it had a head that looked like a hammer or spade. It moved very gracefully and reminded me of a slug. A really long slug. Probably 6 inches long uncoiled. Really weird critter. I ran in the house, grabbed the camera, and shot a few pictures.

"Flat Head Worm"

I carefully moved the wormy thing to a new, safe location, and covered it with a dish to keep it from being squashed. Then I turned to the computer and Google to figure out what on earth I'd just found. It's always exciting to discover a new animal in your neighborhood! I didn't know where to start, so I just described it. I typed in "flat head worm". Bingo! I could see right away from the images that I'd found my animal. Unfortunately, as I read on, I learned that it wasn't good. I had found a Land Planarian or Flatworm (Bipalium kewense). Almost every article I read said that I should kill it right  away because they are invaders from Asia and they dine exclusively on earthworms. I was so disappointed. I really like this fascinating worm. But now that I know what it does, there's no way I can let it outside again. I'm not good at killing, either, so I'm considering keeping it as a pet for a couple of weeks.

My Pet Planarian, exploring

So what's the big deal? Who cares if it eats worms? Well, just like the Dung Beetles from my last post, earthworms are extremely important decomposers. They eat rotting vegetation and turn it into rich soil. They crawl through the dirt, aerating and supplementing with their waste, or castings. If we didn't have earthworms, we'd be buried in plant debris. Earthworms are essential, keystone species that many other organisms and systems depend on. But the funny thing about our earthworms is that they are not all native to North America. Those night-crawlers we use for fishing? Not native. One article that I read said that 60 percent of the earthworms in North America are not native, coming from Asia and Europe, brought here in the horticulture trade starting in the 1600's. There is a fascinating article from National Geographic about the Jamestown Colony which talks about the impact of the importation of non-native earthworms and other species. These non-native earthworms are also decomposers, but they are so numerous and voracious that they eat too much plant debris and dig it deeper into the ground. Some plants and trees need more leaf debris for slow leaching of the nutrients and ground cover and cannot extract nutrients from the soil if it is too deep. So the non-native earthworms may be harming and changing our ecosystems in myriad ways. Now that I think about it, maybe it's a good thing if the Flatworm is added to the mix. Maybe the Planarians can keep the non-native earthworms in check, too. Who knows? Anyway, who am I to point fingers and decide which species can stay in Florida?  I was born in Utah.  Once you start messing with the natural order of things, there is so much moral ambiguity that I get foggy. I think this time I'm going to err on the side of kindness and I'll let my pet Planarian go. I'm not all that keen on killing animals, even rotten ones (like cockroaches) and I've never seen one before, so they are not running roughshod over my yard. Yet. (Famous last words.)