Americans urged to kill cannibal frogs on sight

Officials are calling for local killings of cannibalistic tree frogs native to Cuba that are invading parts of the United States. As he writes Daily Mailthe warning comes as frogs the size of a human palm are eating frogs found in North America, threatening to cause “environmental problems.”

The invasive creature also “exudes an irritating fluid from its skin when touched,” implications for humans or small animals that “remain poorly understood.”

Wildlife managers are still unsure how far north this tropical cannibal frog, which migrated through Florida from Cuba, the Cayman Islands and the Bahamas, will spread.

State biologists believe some Cuban tree frogs have hitchhiked their way to Chattanooga, Tennessee, and are quickly developing strategies to survive the winter.

“One thing they learned to use,” according to a Georgia Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife biologist, “is what we build our houses out of.

“They’ve been known to hide in transformer boxes,” said senior wildlife biologist Daniel Sollenberger, who specializes in herpetology, or the study of reptiles and amphibians. “Electrical boxes are warmer because of electrical resistance,” the scientist explained to the Augusta Chronicle about how tree frogs seek shelter from the cold.

The only known “breeding population” of Cuban tree frogs in Georgia is on Jekyll Island, a coastal state park 50 miles north of Florida.

And the Georgia Jekyll Island Authority, the governing body tasked with managing Jekyll Island State Park, urged visitors to help monitor the Cuban tree frog through its hotline.

But cannibalistic tree frogs have proven their ability to migrate, particularly by hiding in shipments of houseplants and vegetation sold for landscaping purposes, Sollenberger said.

“They’re transported on vehicles or in nurseries,” Sollenberger said. “For example, if you go to a tree store and buy a tree, and if that tree comes from a nursery in Florida, there might be a Cuban tree frog on it.”

A senior wildlife biologist told local reporters that residents of other coastal cities such as Brunswick and Savannah, Georgia, have witnessed man-eating frogs breeding in ponds and ditches, but it is unclear whether the frogs will creep west.

“We don’t know how far inland they might have gone,” Sollenberger said, “because they’re kind of tropical.”

While the Cuban tree frog’s omnivorous meat diet is something it shares with all other frogs, its interest in eating its own kind is rare and is, in part, a testament to its large size as an adult.

“They will eat a lot of insects,” says Sollenberger. “But they will also eat anything that can fit into their mouth. They will even eat small tree frogs.”

“There’s at least some anecdotal evidence from Florida,” he added, “that they can actually reduce native frog populations. If we want some native fauna left in our backyards, that could be a problem.”

James Stroud, assistant professor of biology at Georgia Tech, told DailyMail.com he agrees these concerns are valid.

“In Louisiana, where they were first reported as invasive in 2017,” Stroud notes, “native frogs appear to be subsequently disappearing from these areas. This may be due to either predation or competition with invasive Cuban tree frogs.”

“It is possible that Cuban tree frogs will pose a new ecological threat to protected insect species in Georgia,” Stroud said.

“Cuban tree frogs are also capable of secreting an irritating liquid from their skin when touched,” he told DailyMail.com. “Although this substance is not known to be toxic to humans or small animals, the wider environmental implications in new environments remain poorly understood.”