(Australia)Toads advance towards Darwin

[Guest guest]

(NB: " The cane toad, Bufo marinus, was introduced to Australia by the sugar

cane industry to control two pests of sugar cane, the grey backed cane

beetle and the frenchie beetle. One hundred and one toads arrived at

Edmonton in North Queensland in June 1935. Unseasonal breeding occurred

almost immediately, and within 6 months over 60,000 young toads had been

released. "

" The cane toad ate beetles when they were available, but as a biological

control agent, it had no impact at all. Within 5 years an effective

insecticidal spray became available and the sugar industry lost interest in

its imported worker with its peripatetic habits. "

Source http://www.jcu.edu.au/school/phtm/PHTM/staff/rsbufo.htm)

 

Toads advance towards Darwin

 

From AAP

10jun01

 

WOMEN of the Bagala tribe in the Northern Territory live in fear for their

children as toxic cane toads overrun their communities.

 

The toads were first noticed in the Aboriginal community of Barunga, home to

350, in the wet season early last year.

 

Traditional sources of bush tucker - goannas and young freshwater

crocodiles - had already noticeably diminished, the women who traditionally

hunt them said today.

 

The toads have become prolific in Barunga, about 80 km north of Mataranka,

earlier than expected as they expanded north through the Katherine River,

into Kakadu National Park this year and towards Darwin.

 

Now that the toads' crushed bodies line Barunga streets and culturally

important pet dogs have died, the women fear for their children who are

accustomed to catching and playing with harmless and plentiful native frogs.

 

While there are no recent records in Australia of a child dying from the

venom glands on the toads' necks, the risk of illness is real and new to the

Bagala mothers.

 

The toads killed below the street lights where they congregate for insects

are usually victims of children wielding sticks.

 

" We tell our children not to go and play with them, " Nel Brown said.

 

" But sometimes the children go and grab them in their hands. "

 

Senior Bagala traditional owner Phillis Wynjarrotj said her community had

been overrun.

 

" There's a big mob now all around, all over, no matter where (you go), " she

said.

 

Barunga mother Lynette Brown said she used a caustic household cleaner and

salt to kill the toads around her home.

 

" They make a motorbike sound at night, " she said.

 

" There aren't so many goannas now; not many crocodiles here. "

 

Environment authorities are making hasty efforts to quantify the toads'

impact on wildlife in World Heritage-listed Kakadu and nearby Arnhem Land.

 

Populations of goannas are expected to make some comeback after initial

devastation. But there are greater concerns for vulnerable species such as

the quoll which are already in decline in northern Australia.

 

The CSIRO was last year commissioned to search for a biological control for

the pest which has expanded its territory unimpeded since it was introduced

to the cane fields of Gordonvale, Queensland, in 1935.

 

But scientists do not hope for success within a decade.