Environment

Toad Day Out: Queensland Cane Toad Roundup

by Jordan Yerman | March 29, 2009 at 02:47 pm

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Far North Queensland's citizen toad-wranglers heeded the call to round up as many live cane toads as they could in the inaugural Toad Day Out.

The toads, an invasive species that is running amuck through Queensland, New South Wales, and the Northern Territory, killing the local fauna, are then killed and turned into compost, which is used by the cane farmers. Both ironic and fitting.

Toad Day Out, an inaugural campaign floated to loosen the toads' hold on the environment, received 900 of the "demon" species by community collectors at Trinity Park.

Organisers put the challenge out to the region last week to collect as many live toads as possible.

Cane toads, poisonous amphibians native to Central and South America, were introduced to Australia in 1935 to combat a plague of beetles. The ploy backfired, and the toads proliferated to become an invasive species. Since they're toxic, Oz's ecosystem has had a really tough time dealing with the visiting toads.

Update: Professor Rick Shine of the University of Sydney suggests using meat ants to defeat the toads. The reasoning seems sound, but I have a bad feeling about this.

Pantheon of invasive species (or, "Who Let the Frogs Out?")

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Mary Beth (not verified)

at 03:14 on March 30th, 2009

Yes Esta, mother nature DOES do things we don't expect. We do not know all of the inner workings of an ecosystem. Taking it one step further, another ecosystem has been created since 1935 when the toads were introduced. Removing them from the land could have unforseen reprocussions just as adding them did. What island did they just try to remove the non-native cats from, and then had a problem with an overpopulation of rabbits? I understand the need to do something, but it baffles me how humans think that we can just keep controlling the environment.

blundershot

at 16:50 on April 20th, 2009

...another ecosystem has been created since 1935 when the toads were introduced. Removing them from the land could have unforseen reprocussions just as adding them did....

There are no Cane Toads in Western Australia. Though they will probably cross the border next wet season (or the one after). That's why it is so urgent to find a solution now. The Kimberley is one of the last great wilderness areas of the world (though not pristine). It is also one of the few areas that have not suffered the impact of foxes or rabbits and minimal impact from cats. It is VITAL that something be done or we will witness another crash in biodiversity similar in scale to that which recently occurred in Kakadu.

As far as cat and rabbit removal programs go, surf up Project Eden in Shark Bay to see how effective the removal of cats can be.