The Toads Must Die!

[Zombie]

"Australians have gathered for a celebratory mass culling of poisonous cane toads that have plagued farms and threatened native species for years. Hundreds of participants in five parts of northern Queensland fanned out across the countryside in search of the pests. Hours later they returned to town, snacking on sausages and sipping cold drinks as the toads they had collected were weighed, measured and killed as part of the state's inaugural "Toad Day Out" event.

 

"To see the look on the faces of the kids as we were handling and weighing the toads and then euthanizing them was just...," Townsville City Councilman Vern Veitch said, breaking off to let out a contented sigh. "The children really got into the character of the event."

 

That was 3 years ago, in March 2009, Australia's inaugural toad killing festival. And this year's killing has just taken place. These critters were introduced into Australia 75 years ago to combat beetles but that plan went horribly wrong and the toads have since bred and spread and done terrible damage, killing native wildlife and destroying natural habitat. They do sound disgusting.

 

Some introduced species have been beneficial in certain parts of the World but there are loads of other examples that have done terrible damage.

 

Question is, what to do when it's gone horribly wrong? Let the new species run rampant? Or try to kill it like the Ozzy fun-fest, or perhaps introduce its predator, then the predator of that predator, then the ...... The obvious response is "they shouldn't have done it in the first place" but not all species are introduced deliberately and whether intentional or not the results can be equally devastating.

 

 

(Note to Mods: if things get lively can you move this? )

[W_L]

Anyone saw the simpsons episode where bart accidentally causes a toad infestation in Australia back in the 90s?

 

Now i know the cultural reference

[Andy78]

We have a similar problem here in the UK with the grey squirrel.

 

It was deliberately introduced into Europe in the 19th century by curious wildlife experts who wished to study it, but is now causing such havoc and destruction of our wildlife (primarily being responsible for the catastrophic decline of our native red squirrel) that the IUCN (The World Conservation Union) have now listed it on their list of the 100 worst invasive alien species (in this case meaning non-native) globally.

 

There are those who advocate the extermination of the grey squirrel (either by trapping and shooting them or with the use of warfarin poisoning, which is highly regulated in UK law), however we are faced with the problem that many in Britain actually love the grey squirrel.

 

New Zealand has a similar problem with the possum, which was deliberately introduced to establish a fur trade (even at its height, trappers were killing 20 million possums a year, and this did nothing to their overall population). They are literally eating the New Zealand wildlife out of house and home, they will even eat the eggs and baby chicks, and are classed as a pest. They are now spending millions of dollars trying to eradicate the possum.

 

I do not advocate the wholesale slaughter of a species, but I do understand why those affected by these pests do feel that way. We think nothing of exterminating a virus or bacteria that is affecting flora and fauna, such as foot and mouth and bovine TB, but we suddenly think twice when it comes to an animal.

[PrivateTim]

Dang! One's getting away!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRUsMP6ww98

[Krista]

Hmm... wholesale killing of species that aren't supposed to be there is the only way to go. I wouldn't want to introduce the Toad's natural predator, because that would cause more of an upset.

 

Australia has a lot of introduced species... Wild Boar, Feral Goats, Camels, Feral Cats, Fox, Rabbits... it is a nightmare for the native species that are found nowhere else in the world.. sucks that it happened, but eradication of all of them would benefit the natural environment greatly. The state of Florida has a similar problem and those species are causing a lot of trouble in the Wetlands. I don't really care about the methods as long as it doesn't cause more damage to what needs and deserves to be protected.

 

The Wild Boar will be our largest problem since they can tolerate more climates than the others that have been introduced here in the U.S.

[MikeL]

Toads? Yuck!

[W_L]

Toads? Yuck!

 

Mike ain't he your cousin:

 

 

I see the family resemblance: Rainbow frog vs. Rainbow toad

[Palantir]

The cane toads are an enormous problem here in Australia and a single day event is nothing compared to the ongoing eradication efforts.

Originally they were just a problem on the east coast of Queensland iin Australia's north east, but despite the the incredible obstacles of desert and distance the poisonous critters have hopped their way right across Queensland and are threatening the Northern Territory, South Australia and there are even reports in Western Australia.

One of the most bizarre methods for control that I've seen was in a National Park, where the toads were put through a meat grinder and made into sausages. The amount of toad meat was controlled so that when it was fed to native animals they'd have enough of a bad reaction to teach them to stay away from anything with a toady smell.

TOAD SAUSAGE! - Gauranteed to make you sick.