NATURE | RACISM | ENTITLEMENT

Tourists Seek Pesticides to Silence Puerto Rico’s Beloved Tree Frog

When our coquí met the colonizers

Credit: Wikimedia / Thibaud Aronson (Luquillo, Borinquen)

Quieren la jaula, pero no los pájaros. / They want the cage, but not the birds.
~ Don Pedro Albizu Campos, Puerto Rican Nationalist

This story has been marinating for months. It’s about entitlement, racism, colonialism, and nature. Now, I’m ready to share how it went down.

In late May, a poet buddy (Luis) sent a video clip of a new piece he had recently performed about our beloved tree frog, el coquí. His poem, a tribute to the tiny amphibian millions of Puerto Ricans know as a symbol of home, is interactive. After each stanza, Luis signals to the crowd (as he remains silent), everyone shouts —

Coquí (pronounced KOH KEE).

When I asked him about what motivated the poem, he was incredulous that I hadn’t heard the fiasco. It was back in May when I deleted my six Instagram accounts! He shared the story about a tourist who complained on social media, asking for help on how to silence the coquís.

I researched and found the horrifying post —