On the edge of a dark, suburban park in Brisbane, teams of volunteer toad-catchers gather around Gary King as he shoves another squirming specimen into a cooler box. <\/p>\n
\u201cWho\u2019s got some more?\u201d asks King, a local leader of this year\u2019s Great Cane Toad Bust, a small and ultimately futile campaign to dent Australia\u2019s massive invasive population of some 200 million cane toads. <\/p>\n
Native to South and Central America, the brown, warty-skinned pest has been causing havoc in Australia since being released in the northern state of Queensland to eat cane beetles in 1935. <\/p>\n
Since then, they\u2019ve spread north, south and thousands of miles to the west, hitching rides on vehicles and developing stronger, longer legs to hop across state borders, poisoning native fauna with their toxic glands as they go. <\/p>\n
Australia\u2019s not the only country with a cane toad problem \u2013 the United States, Japan, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea and islands in the Pacific and Caribbean also host the species, either through accident or mislaid hopes that they would solve another pest-related problem. <\/p>\n
Cane toads are unwelcome in Australia because the bulbous amphibian is a voracious eater that when stressed releases a toxin strong enough to kill lizards, snakes, crocodiles \u2013 almost anything that dares to attack it. In a suburban setting, that includes dogs and cats. <\/p>\n
The toads are toxic at every stage of their life cycle and ingesting their poison \u2013 emitted from bulky glands on their shoulders \u2013 can cause rapid heartbeat, convulsions, paralysis and even death for some animals. In humans it can cause intense pain. <\/p>\n
For the most part, the battle against cane toads has been mounted by local ecological warriors wearing rubber gloves who scan the streets for adult toads. But the Australians have a secret weapon not yet available worldwide \u2013 a lure that attracts cane toad tadpoles so thousands can be killed in one hit. <\/p>\n
In Brisbane, King\u2019s volunteer toad busters include father and son team Luke and Austin Rogers, who moved to Australia from the United Kingdom over a decade ago. <\/p>\n
They don\u2019t normally do this kind of thing; fishing is more typical of their father-son expeditions. <\/p>\n
But as they scan the ground, wearing rubber gloves and head torches, the competitive element of toad-catching takes over, delivering the same dose of adrenaline as the first nibble on a hook. <\/p>\n
Luke spots a particularly large specimen in a puddle, but as he bends down to grab it, it jumps away and he gives chase, triumphantly slipping it into a bucket that\u2019s getting heavier with each catch. <\/p>\n
Does he think he\u2019s putting much of a dent in the population? <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m doing it half because I enjoy it,\u201d he says. \u201cThere\u2019s definitely part of me that thinks we\u2019re not even going to scratch the surface.\u201d <\/p>\n
A more efficient method of eradicating toads has already been invented that targets the tadpoles that hatch from clutches of up to 30,000 eggs. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s the collaborative work of Professor Rob Capon, a natural products chemist from the University of Queensland and Professor Rick Shine, an evolutionary biologist and ecologist from Macquarie University. <\/p>\n
Shine, one of Australia\u2019s leading authorities on cane toads, had noticed that even in murky water, cane toad tadpoles were able to swim toward eggs laid by rival females, which they\u2019d eat for nutrition and to build their stores of toxins. <\/p>\n
In the laboratory, Capon set out to find out why. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt turned out that they were tracking in on some sort of chemical cue that was released by the eggs,\u201d Capon said. <\/p>\n
To prove the theory, and try to mimic it, they\u2019d first need a heap of dead cane toads. <\/p>\n
Initially, their efforts to obtain corpses were somewhat frustrated by the university\u2019s ethical obligations to ensure the animals were killed humanely for scientific study, said Capon. <\/p>\n
We want to get rid of them, but we need to do so with as much humanity as if we were trying to get rid of koalas. <\/p>\n
Rick Shine, Macquarie University <\/p>\n
A humane death was hard to guarantee in a state where toads were once hunted with hockey sticks and golf clubs in an unofficial sport. <\/p>\n
\u201cI grew up being told that it was fun to kill cane toads and you could do so in ways that were as painful as possible for the animal,\u201d says Shine, who was born in Queensland. <\/p>\n
\u201cI guess my perspective now is, it\u2019s not the toad\u2019s fault. It didn\u2019t come to Australia of its own accord,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to get rid of them, but we need to do so with as much humanity as if we were trying to get rid of koalas.\u201d <\/p>\n
To satisfy the university\u2019s ethics committee and obtain the requisite number of dead toads, Capon and his team created the \u201cCane Toad Challenge.\u201d <\/p>\n
The program encouraged backyard hunters to find the toads and send in their catch. And it reaped enough dead toads to keep the university supplied with subjects for several years of testing. <\/p>\n
During that time, Capon and his team identified the pheromone that attracts the tadpoles, extracted it from toads and processed it into a liquid that can be used to bait a lure. <\/p>\n
The lure \u2013 a drenched stone \u2013 is placed inside a trap that\u2019s submerged near tadpoles, tempting them to swim in through a hole. <\/p>\n
The recommended method for killing tadpoles and adult cane toads in Australia is to put them in the fridge for 24 hours, then freeze them for another day or two before putting them in the trash. <\/p>\n
For obvious reasons, killing cane toad tadpoles en masse is far more efficient than picking up fully grown adults, Capon said. <\/p>\n
But even he admits that eliminating cane toads in Australia is an impossible task. <\/p>\n
\u201cToad busting is terrific. Tadpole trapping is a really good adjunct to toad busting because if you can pick up the adults and you take out the tadpoles, you\u2019ve got a bigger buffer for the next generation,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut Australia is a big place. And there\u2019s lots of places that toads are happily living where there\u2019s nobody to do tadpole trapping or toad busting. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo, unless you\u2019re going to stick an army of retirees on a bus across North Queensland every week of every summer, we\u2019re not going to get rid of the toads.\u201d <\/p>\n
The southwestern state of Florida in the United States has a similar warm climate to Queensland, with plenty of cane toads and not enough retirees to catch them all. <\/p>\n
Like in Australia, cane toads were introduced in Florida in the 1930s to attack cane beetles, but the local theory suggests their numbers really took off by accident in the 1950s. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe running narrative right now is that there were those initial attempts, none of them worked, but then somehow this giant crate full of 20 or so toads got busted open in Miami airport. And because it was warm enough down there, they became established,\u201d said Jacob LaFond, a lab coordinator and instructor at the University of Tampa. <\/p>\n
So far, they haven\u2019t moved beyond the peninsula \u2013 it\u2019s too cold up north \u2013 and it seems they prefer human habitats to Florida\u2019s natural environment. <\/p>\n
That means cats and dogs tend to be more vulnerable than Florida\u2019s wildlife, which is accustomed to living alongside other types of toxic toads. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no evidence that there\u2019s a lot of toxic poisoning of native wildlife here in Florida,\u201d said Steve Johnson, a professor in Wildlife Ecology & Conservation at the University of Florida. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn Florida, cane toads are mainly a socio-economic issue. If you have a dog that attacks a cane toad or eats one and dies, if you\u2019re a dog lover, that\u2019s a major blow to you, and then there\u2019s the costs associated with taking a dog to the vet,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Experts say there\u2019s no big government campaign to eradicate cane toads, because Florida has bigger issues with invasive pests. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have these giant Burmese pythons that are eradicating a lot of the ecosystem in South Florida. We have these iguanas that are building tunnels that are messing with our highway infrastructure. So, I certainly understand why the toads have taken a back seat,\u201d LaFond said. <\/p>\n
That\u2019s not to say that no one is interested. <\/p>\n
Nikki Tomsett, an invasive species project officer at Australian not-for-profit Watergum, which is about to begin producing Capon\u2019s tadpole lures, says most of the emails she receives from outside Australia are from Hawaii and Florida. <\/p>\n
The lures aren\u2019t available for distribution outside Australia yet \u2013 the group is still working through licensing issues \u2013 but Tomsett suggests it isn\u2019t a quick fix for the US. More rigorous testing is needed in the field to ensure native toads \u2013 including the southern toad \u2013 don\u2019t become bycatch. <\/p>\n
\u201cFor us, not being familiar with the southern toad and the ecology of Florida, we would need to do some more trials and a lot of research and development,\u201d Tomsett said. <\/p>\n
As Florida\u2019s numbers multiplied, small businesses offering toad-busting services sprang up offering regular toad maintenance for homes. <\/p>\n
Australia takes more of a DIY approach in the suburbs, while a much more vigorous campaign is underway by state authorities to slow their rapid march west. <\/p>\n
The cane toad front line now sits near the town of Derby in Western Australia \u2013 and is moving toward the coast at about 50 kilometers (31 miles) a year. <\/p>\n
That means it\u2019s likely to hit the coastline in the next two years, and while authorities are working to slow its progress, they\u2019re also preparing native animals for the inevitable onslaught. <\/p>\n
As well as manual toad catching and tadpole baiting, native animals are being fed cane toad flesh laced with poison or nausea-inducing chemicals to make them sick. <\/p>\n
The idea is that they learn not to eat cane toads before the arrival of large, toxic adult males. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe drop those baits just before the frontline arrives, and then when the cane toads do arrive, that animal won\u2019t go for a cane toad because it\u2019s already tried a sausage and felt sick,\u201d said Sara McAllister, an invasive species project officer from the Western Australia Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf we just let nature run its course and we have the large highly toxic toads coming into the environment first, then you see a lot of animals die.\u201d <\/p>\n
The style of bait depends on the animals being targeted; they\u2019re chosen with guidance from local\u00a0Aboriginal rangers who have intimate knowledge of the land and its inhabitants. <\/p>\n
Northern quolls \u2013 small carnivorous marsupials \u2013 get a cane toad sausage, goannas are fed tiny live toads and freshwater crocodiles receive cane toad legs with a dose of lithium chloride. <\/p>\n
Back in Brisbane, the clear winner of the evening\u2019s toad hunt was 9-year-old Connor Holmes, who with his father John caught 25 toads in just over an hour. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a system, don\u2019t we? I hold the bucket. And he catches,\u201d John said. <\/p>\n
\u201cBecause I\u2019m the faster one,\u201d Connor explains. <\/p>\n
They say they\u2019d go cane toad catching more often, if only for one issue. <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think the wife would appreciate the buckets of toads in the freezer,\u201d John says. \u201cThat is the problem.\u201d <\/p>\n\n
On the edge of a dark, suburban park in Brisbane, teams of volunteer toad-catchers gather around Gary King as he shoves another squirming specimen into a cooler box. \u201cWho\u2019s got some more?\u201d asks King, a local leader of this year\u2019s Great Cane Toad Bust, a small and ultimately futile campaign to dent Australia\u2019s massive invasive <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":14309,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-14308","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}