Slashdot Mirror
Army Sent to Fight Millions of Invading Toxic Toads
Reporter writes "The Australian state government called for the army to be deployed against the invasion of toxic toads! Battalions of imported cane toads are marching relentlessly across northern Australia and the West Australian government wants soldiers to intercept the environmental barbarians. From the article: "The toads, Bufo Marinus, were introduced from South America into northeast Queensland state in the 1930s to control another pest: Beetles that were ravaging the sugar cane fields of the tropical northern coasts. But the toads now number in the millions and are spreading westward through the Northern Territory, upsetting the country's ecosystem in their wake. Cane toads have poisonous sacs on the back of their heads full of a venom so powerful it can kill crocodiles, snakes or other predators in minutes." More information about cane toads at Wikipedia."
Well, the article doesn't say much about what the army is supposed to do except kill them. I highly doubt that's the strategy and, after being raised on farms in my youth, it's easier to use a trap or target the nests than to get down on your hands and knees and kill each and every one of them. In fact, even if you killed all the visible ones, how do you kill/remove all the tadpoles and eggs from the ponds and water in Australia? It would be obviously stupid to try to introduce another foreign species that might rampage about the land. Especially one that would be immune to the toad's toxin.
It's odd that they deploy the military considering that current government research has been directed towards isolating a sex pheremone to disrupt the breeding cycle. The government fact sheet suggests removing the jelly strings of eggs from water & humane execution of adult cane toads. There are guides on Cane Toad control that talk about using traps but what do you do with the toads after you trap them. Will the Australian military be trudging through wetlands and collecting toad eggs while smashing the adults with specialized mallets? No one is alluding to the method of the military.
Perhaps this is some left over funding that was appropriated to the military and now they feel like they have to spend it? Either way, I don't live in North Eastern Australia so I don't know what level of effect these toads are truly having.
Here's a humorous Google Video on the cane toad. It's more just a dabble in CGI by film makers but I thought it worth mentioning given the topic.
My work here is dung.
I'm not not licking this toad.
It may look like I'm doing nothing, but I'm actively waiting for my problems to go away.
--Scott Adams
Fortunately, there's an easy solution to this problem. It turns out that these toads can be made sterile if they eat enough kudzu, which they find to be extremely tasty. Just plant enough kudzu and this problem goes away completely.
There are 0x40000000 types of people: those who understand 32-bit IEEE 754 floating point, and those who don't.
So evolved toxic toads are invading Darwin? You just can't make this sort of material up! I await posts of craven submission from Slashdotters willing to co-operate with the toxic toads.
"that talk about using traps but what do you do with the toads after you trap them"
mmmmm... Lunch.
-Rick
"Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
You'd assume they learned their lesson from importing the rabbits.
New species + no predators = I, for one, welcome our new poisonous toad overlords!
We'll lick these toxic toads one way or another.
Karma: Excellent Birds (mostly as a result of listening to Laurie Anderson)
KENT
Our top story, the population of parasitic tree lizards has exploded, and local citizens couldn't be happier! It seems the rapacious reptiles have developed a taste for the common pigeon, also known as the 'feathered rat', or the 'gutter bird'. For the first time, citizens need not fear harassment by flocks of chattering disease-bags.
Later, Bart receives an award from Mayor Quimby outside the town hall. Several lizards slink past.
QUIMBY
For decimating our pigeon population, and making Springfield a less oppressive place to while away our worthless lives, I present you with this scented candle.
Skinner talks to Lisa.
SKINNER
Well, I was wrong. The lizards are a godsend.
LISA
But isn't that a bit short-sighted? What happens when we're overrun by lizards?
SKINNER
No problem. We simply unleash wave after wave of Chinese needle snakes. They'll wipe out the lizards.
LISA
But aren't the snakes even worse?
SKINNER
Yes, but we're prepared for that. We've lined up a fabulous type of gorilla that thrives on snake meat.
LISA
But then we're stuck with gorillas!
SKINNER
No, that's the beautiful part. When wintertime rolls around, the gorillas simply freeze to death.
Supplies!
This is an example of what can happen if you use biological means to control a situation.
There tends to be an unintended consequence, which often may be much worse than the origional affliction.
Although I hope they think carefully about this type of behaviour in the future, I doubt it.
The biological ideas they're coming up with to fight drugs in the US are much scarier than a few million frogs.
Good day, gentlemen. As you are no doubt aware, I have recently perfected my race of genetically enhanced killer cane toads. My invincible batrachian army is currently rampaging across the continent of Australia, laying waste to all in their path. There is currently talk of deploying the Australian army to attempt to stem the tide of conquest...I'll tell you now that you needn't bother...the toads are quite unstoppable, and they only obey my commands.
You see, gentlemen, things will only get worse...even now, cargo containers filled with thousands of my warty warriors are quietly being delivered to major cities in every country in the world. At my signal, these containers will be opened via remote control, releasing the toads to wreak havok upon your fragile environments. As the toads spread relentlessly, they will destroy entire ecosystems, severely compromising the food supply of the planet. As the global famine ensues, no place on the planet will be safe. You will fall upon one another like wolves...civilization as you know it will cease to exist...that is...unless you pay me...
One hundred billion kajillion fafillion dollaaars!!!
Gentlemen, you have my demands...peace out.
____
~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey
france is invading australia?
Hopefully Her Royal Australian Army will meet with more success in the Great Toad War than they did in the Great Emu War.
I can only imagine as soldiers fire their atuomatic weapons wildely, all the time screaming "Pull Back, Pull Back, there's too many of them, Mate!"
After this, they're just going to have to find some *bigger* predator to take out the Army. It's a neverending cycle.
fight them on the lilypads, we shall never surrrender!
I suggest we call on our French allies in NATO to assist Australia. Especially one of their cooking battalions.
Seriously, though, this is why plopping down species willy nilly thinking they will "solve" a "pest" problem is almost always a biological disaster.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
"Hey Wally. Weve got these beetles that are eating our sugar crops. What are we going to do?"
"Well Jess, weve got this toad from South America that would eat them, although hes a bit poisonous"
"Well isnt that going to be a problem once the beetles are taken care of?"
"Sure, but then we can import this Wild Jaguar from South America that eats the toads. Course they are kind of dangerous to people to. So then we could...."
I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
about time, those French are bloody annoying!
"" How about taking the safety labels off everything, and let the stupidity-problem solve itself? """
Import starving people from third world nations to eat the toads. It could get messy when the toad problem is solved, but there's suddenly a large starving people problem...
Government's view of the economy: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving,regulate it. If it stops moving, subsidize it.
Let the world be glad that these are only toxic toads and not Battletoads. Of course if there was a world-wide rat infestation we would probably be very thankful for their help in eradicating the rodents.
Make the toads lick each other.
welcome our cane toad
Slashdot: Blah Blah Blah Toads invading Australia
Dougie: Simpsons Did It!
Episode 6x16: Bart vs. Australia.
Diversity is strength. Australia is an inbred backwater of an ecosystem that needs to be enriched so it looks like the world. Predators who are foolish enough to eat poisonous frogs from more evolutionarily advanced ecosystems are doomed and we should celebrate their demise as the relentless march of evolution progresses ever onward to a glorious day when that heavenly brown-green-grey goo eats everything.
Seastead this.
A lot of poisons in small doses will give you a good time - alcohol for one.
Its talk like that which keeps Cheney from needing Viagra.
Australia deploys troops for Amphibious Warfare
People never seem to learn this lesson. It doesn't matter that kudzu and dandelions and purple loosestrife and house sparrows and starlings and gypsy moths and buckthorn and... you get the picture: it doesn't matter that any given introduced species goes nuts and that other introductions meant to curb earlier mistakes blow up. People don't see how it could happen the next time. They just don't care that much.
Head on down to your local plant nursery and consider what share of the plants there are native to your area. The percentage will be pitifully small unless you're in Hawaii or something. Hawaii takes plant imports very seriously. In my area, even when there's a perfectly good native species like American bittersweet vine, the nursery will decide to carry a eurasian species that has some slightly different quality. Bam: eurasian bittersweet swallows whole forests in the south. The native version didn't do that. Gee, I guess the difference was a little bit bigger than we thought.
People could have planted native chestnut trees. They were the dominant species of non-mast food tree in eastern U.S. forests, and a huge wildlife habitat -- until they were wiped out by the chestnut blight brought over on shrubby eurasian chestnuts by plant nurseries. Didn't learn from that one either.
If anything, where there are legal restrictions about plants, they're usually an encouragement not to plant natives. Introduced species are so much more civilized, or something.
"Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
...they'll end up torturing and killing some of them, while getting some ineptly defended against beating from some of the others, before giving up and retreating. Just like in Vietraq.
Bahhrt Simpson, you are the devil !
Why doesn't the poison (strong enough to kill crocodiles) kill the toads? Same problem with other venomous animals. Why don't they die from their own poison?
Oh well, what the hell...
The new PC term for illegal aliens?? I think I'll adopt it straight away!
...but ultimately my money is on the toads.
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
who ate the... ...
I guess she'll die.
They kill their frogs with ESP.
l
No, really!
"A DIA 1975 report, "Soviet and Czechoslovakian Parapsychology Research, described "a scientific breakthrough of tremendous significance." Soviet scientists had reportedly learned that "psychic" abilities stemmed from a kind of brain energy. This energy, it was claimed, had been extracted from the brain into a beam. The beam was focused on houseflies, who "died instantly." A Soviet "killer psychic," one Nina Kulagina, was even able to "stop" the heart of a laboratory frog."
http://www.markriebling.com/archives/00000304.htm
I do it all the time
:)
What are we after today? Bunnies, roos, toads, or terrorists? Don't forget, if Cheney is on your team, keep your head down! Seriously, invasive species require extreme measures to try and preserve the natural order in a given environment. Other than defense of your country I can't think of a better use of troops.
I reserve the right to think for myself. Others' opinions are optional. Puppy on lap = typos...not illiteracy.
My Aussie buddy told me that some of his favorite childhood involved his two older brothers,
cricket bats, and the above-mentioned toad. Wonder if that's how the Army is dealing with
the problem?
Nope, these are toads, not frogs...
And furthermore, the French are not toxic... only smelly.
Poisonous? Damn, there goes my idea to have thousands of princesses go out and kiss them.
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
let me get this straight, Australia has an army?
I own the DVD because it is one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. Truly memorable, educational, and completely bizarre. Before we had documentary parodies like Best of Show, there were real documentaries that were even better.
Must see:
n -to-fight-toxic-toad-invasion-in-australia.htm
Little girl playing with toads like Barbie dolls
Man killing cane toads. Multiply by the thousands now + camo for army effect.
Reviews and more info:
http://www.wowozanga.com/2006/06/19/army-called-i
http://www.badmovies.org/movies/canetoads/
I am waiting for Bob Herbert's column about bringing the troops home and how fighting toads is not worth the cost of our blood and treasure.
No, no, the solution is really quite simple. You see, there are these large, carniverous lizards from Equador that happen to like to eat these toads. Fortunately, they multiply very fast so they will kill off the toads in no time. Brilliant!
--
Who are you callin' myopic?!?
blah blah blah
those aussies are ruthless! they even wire kangaroo's with explosives, come a-hopping into camp, knock out 10 guys
Could be asked to mediate before the conflict gets out of hand
Get Condi and the Turtles in a plane immediately!
The Crocodile Hunter could just lure them to the soldiers using his infant son as bait. No, wait...
Seriously though, I live in South Florida, US where they also pulled this trick (to save money for the rich sugar cane barons, but that's another story) and it's had the same sort of disastrous results. As soon as the toads found out that there were suburbs nearby, they quickly abandoned the cane fields and settled in the nice comfy urban neighborhoods. The toxin is extremely poisonous therefore, not only do they have no known predators, but they also kill household pets who are unlucky enough to encounter and bite them.
There is not very much you can do to control the Bufo's except to remove sources or food and water. These things thrive on pet food and we'll always have them in my neighborhood as long as morons keep leaving their pet food outside in their driveways (which also attracts rats, possums, and other nasties). They're also said to be able to survive months underground during the dry season and then emerge in the wet which is just starting here now so needless to say, my block has been crawling with them for the last 3 weeks.
I've also seen very little on humane ways of eradicating these pests. One site advocates putting them in a bag in your freezer until they're frozen solid but this doesn't sit well with the wife I'm afraid. I've heard of people pouring ammonia and other toxins on them (these are sluggish toads easily hand caught, not leaping frogs) but this seems cruel as well as not very envrionmentally friendly. We have a large dog who pounces on anything that moves, so needless to say controlling these things is a real concern. I personally know of several people who have lost their pets in the last year due to deadly encounters with Bufo's and that's one reason my dog never goes into the yard alone for any length of time.
What if the Hokey Pokey really is what it's all about?
"Evolved toads march towards Darwin", there is something very ironic about all of this.
It's all about dosage.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
Hell yeah! Its toad stompin' time!
Get out yer boots!
try{
X= "We've got a beetle infestation problem.";
Y= "We're sending in toads to clean it up.";
X= "Now we've got a toad infestation problem.";
Y= "We're sending in soldiers to clean it up.";
X= "Now we've got a soldier infestation problem.";
if ( CanTakeAJoke() )
Y= "We're sending in IEDs to clean it up.";
else
Y= "We're sending in beer to clean it up.";
}
catch(HumorBufferUnderflowException heh){
kneejerk();
}
there's a wonderful documentary on cane toads that i watched a few months ago.
it shows how some of the austrailians came to accept the invasion, while others would steer towards the toads to see how many they could squash on the way to work. it was a little disturbing to see 7 pop in your face...
R.I.P.
(j/k! j/k! It's impossible to play golf with emus, they never sit still on the tee long enough)
You can learn a lot about a person if you just take the time to inject them with sodium pentathol
The diving was great.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
Can't they build a fence or something?
A "bullfrog"?!?! That's a funny name. I woulda called it a Chazwazzer!
The humane way to kill them, advocated by the Northern Territory government (which tried to encourage citizens to setup subsidized traps on their land), is to put the captured toads in plastic bags and into freezers. The cold-blooded creatures simply fall asleep as they get colder...
The sad things are:
Australia's predators (quolls mostly) are lone hunters, so others don't have the chance to learn from a fellow hunter's fate. Park rangers have evacuated some of them off to islands to preserve the already withering species...
Interestingly, the feral cats — another menace to Australia's native wildlife — seem smart enough not to get killed by the poisonous quarry...
It seems like some of Australia's birds of prey — probably, having watched others die — have learned to flip the toads over and eat out the belly, which is not protected by poison. It may not be enough to stop the invasion, though...
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
Who is the moron? Homo sapiens.
I totally did not see this coming. What a twist!
Do the toads even know that they're toxic?
Maybe they're innocent. But if you see them strutting around, bragging about that s.o.b. alligator that tried to take a bite out of them (even showing the scars to prove it), or acting like the new sheriff in town, or making boisterous claims about being virtually at the top of the food chain, well then i say, nuke the bastids.
History shows that when met with any kind of military force, the frogs quickly surrender!
And I do apologize...
Actually, as a pun, that statement would be 'The use of words expressing something other than their literal intention', and hence is irony, not poetic justice.
Ah, the sweet sweet poetic justice of pointing out to someone who just replaces the word poetic justice for irony that his statement was, in fact, ironic.
And given that Irony and Poetic Justice are both poetic devices, this sort of justice is, in fact, ironic.
http://www.mininova.org/tor/49932
I saw it a few months ago. very funny.
I'll just use my special getting high powers one more time...
After reading the review on badmovies.org of this documentary, I'm going to try and order a copy. It sounds absolutely bizarre!
Hmm, this sounds vaguely familiar to a cartoon I saw once. There was a mouse, so they sent in the cat, then they sent in a dog and then an elephant. I wonder what will be used to kill what kills the toads????
Seriously. That has the potential to solve these sorts of problems: an autonomous frog-eating robot, solar-powered, that just cruises around and chews them up. If you're worried about false negatives, have it capture them, take a picture, and wi-fi it to a bunch of minimum-wage outsourcing victims who mod 'bufo' or 'not bufo' and base their wage increases on a metamoderation system. Make sure the toadba units can float. Every couple of months hire someone to go collect all the ones that haven't moved in a month.
Nostalgia's not what it used to be.
I actually posted a story about AT&T changing their Privacy Policy, and THIS SHIT gets published, and my story is rejected?!?!?!?!? WTF are the editors fucking, er, I mean Thinking???
----- I have bad karma for a reason! -----
Poisonous is a better description. The problem is that these alien toads look like tasty morsels to many Australian predators. Unfortunately for any animal that decides to makes a meal of one, it will also be its last.
I don't think there's any easy answer to this problem. In neighboring New Zealand, they successfully exterminated alien rats on some of their Islands by airdropping poisoned bait. That's not going to work on these toads, since although they're known to even eat stuff like plants, carrion and dog food (not just insects), they're now far too wide spread. I fear that the only way out will be to introduce a natural enemy, preferably something like a virus or a specific parasite (if one exists).
See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cane_toad
An "Old Woman" once used this form of pest control and we all know where it got her...
There was an old woman who swallowed a cow,
I don't know how she swallowed a cow!
She swallowed the cow to catch the goat,
She swallowed the goat to catch the dog,
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat,
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird,
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,
That wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly,
I don't know why she swallowed the fly,
Perhaps she'll die.
oh oh oh I know send them to france! population control in so many ways there. And for my other idea after the armada of toad warfare is over a new movie based on it. ATTACK OF THE KILLER Sac TOADS! A cut scene from the movie Private: Sarg Watch out out for the!!!! SPLAT Serg: Johnny i'm dying dying, your in charge now it's getting so dark it's. Toad: RIBBBIT! GULP! Privt. johnny: You bastard you killed and ate the sarg die M@#$$@#@#$! Gun blast as toad explodes unleashing noxious gas! PJ: I've avenged you Sarg what wait shite theres more toads ahhhhhhhhhh Enter hundreds of thousands of toads as the envelope Johnny! Then a master toad jumps in swallowing Johnny and alot of other toads. Johnny: being digested slowly pulls the gernade pins from several thermite gernades. If I die you bastards goto hell with me! YAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH! Huge Exsplosion as the ground was full of methane gas leaving a huge crater. General walks by a day later! General: that damn squad gave it's life to wipe this menace out! God love the Roughnecks! As the the general walks away a lone shadow is seen hoping away to the other side of the crater. RIBBBBIIIITTT! thats what I'd do after the menace is cleaned up!
But if he shot that toad in the beginning of the movie, the toad would not have woken him up right as the laser was about to vaporize him at the end of the movie.
(yes, I watch way too many kid's movies)
A 22 slug can travel a hell of a lot farther then you think. A .22LR rifle can put a bullet a mile away. You could fire at a toad and hit a kid down the road.
If you want to kill a toad with a 22, use "snake shot". That is tiny pellets in a 22 cartridge.
Why fight nature? Get rid of the dog and make pets of the toads?
I'm not licking this toad, I'm welcoming it as my new overlord!
-- I have monkeys in my pants.
Get these Mutha F@#king Toads off my Mutha F$@king Continent!! TOADS ON THE OUTBACK!!
This was on /. a few moths back, anyway;
The native Crow (or raven not sure which) has figured out that by flipping the toad on its back it can go for the soft non-toxic belly, something it teaches its offspring as well!
One problem remains; how to silence the Crows, then again the Cockatoos need mufflers as well. it never ends...
You never catch me alive
yeah remember, everytime you guys get lost in Iraq or Afghanistan the Oz SAS comes in and get out
You never catch me alive
Sending the Army in to fight poisonous, rampaging toads.
Sounds like the Sci-Fi channel's next Movie of the Week!
I believe... that human beings... and cane toads... can live in harmony...
But these toads... are developing nookular weapons... that are a threat...
to our great nation... These cane toads... are harbouring known terrorists...
And... let me just say this... you can fool me once... shame on... shame on me...
Fool me... you can't get fooled again.
it is only after a long journey that you know the strength of the horse.
Real simpsons nerds bother to fix the downloaded file names with the production codes.
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
The leader of the frog invasion is Gen. Kermet D. Frog. His intentions seem to be the seziure of Australia for his own ends.
"Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master."
All we need to do is move every 10 year old kid up north and give them a golf club. Those toads get quite some distance once skilled. It also has the dual benefit of teaching kids golf at an early age and thus ensuring them a solid professional life.
Kids in the Northern Territory not only lick can toads but have also been drying them out and smoking them. It's true - look through this NT Govt report: http://www.nt.gov.au/lant/parliament/committees/En viron%20and%20Sustainable/Cane%20toad-Report-Vol%2 01.pdf
I am an Australian.
When I was a lad living in Townsville (North Queensland) , a popular sport amongst kids was to go Toad hunting, a competitive activity involving torch and a pitchfork. You would fill a sack in a few hours. (Can't remember what we did with the bodies). That was 35 years ago. The problem is much worse now.
With maturity and reflection I regretted that activity - too inhumane. Now I'm not so sure.
Here are some facts, some well known, some not:
- imported from Hawaii in 1935, quickly adapted/evolved.
- size: up to 24cm , weight 1.4 kg
- extreme adaptability, desert to mangrove
- lay up to 35,000 eggs at a time
- tadpole have 5 rows of teeth used to rasp (like a shark)
- eat anything they can swallow, including small mammals
- extremely poisonous - dogs that bite them often die
- sometimes boiled to extract the poison, which is also a hallucinogenic drug.
(Users also often die)
Ref: http://www.austmus.gov.au/factsheets/canetoad.htm
There is more than one state in Australia. There are also 5 other states and 2 territories in Australia, which also have their own "State Governments".
In this case, i believe, it was the State Government of Western Australia which has called on the army - who knows what for, I can't see what they can do.
_
\\/ are accustomed' - First Lensman
I live in an area where Cane Toads are rife during the wet season. If it's just been raining I can guarantee that when opening the front door I'll be greeted by 5 or 6 toads sitting on the front porch. It feels kinda awkward sometimes when you open it and they're all lined up staring at you and they all stop croaking at the same time, kinda like walking into a western saloon and the piano player stops playing and everyone goes silent. You apologise, close the door very gently and go back inside.
As for killing them, a quick whack on the head with a shovel does the trick. We tried putting them in the freezer which kind of works, but we had a couple of instances where they come back to life if they're not frozen long enough and you end up with a toad jumping around in a zip-lock back in your waste bin.
Our next door neighbour had a bit of an idea to get rid of them, create a mobile toad collector who drives around each suburb once a week and offer $1 for each one dead or alive. Train people up on how not to get sprayed by them (attack from behind). The whole poisonous amphibian thing kinda makes it difficult, but we Australians are a hardy bunch and I'm sure we could develop an immunity after a while.
Task Mangler
The Australian government is federal, not state. The request was made by The Hon. Mark McGowan, Environment Minister for the state government of Western Australia.
Mr. McGowan seems to have a thing against toads, with recent news including: the WA government paying for toad sniffing dogs (June 11); supporting staff Conservation and Land Management, volunteers of Stop The Toad Foundation and Kimberley Toadbusters and the Cane Toad Working Group (23 April); praising employees of a freight DC who found a cane toad in a shipment of bananas (17 March); and starting a $500,000 community awareness campaign to fight cane toads (20 February).
Please export kangaroo to the USA. They look tasty... are they?
that everytime man plays God and fiddles with nature, nature strikes back and yet man never learns.
Sounds like what happened when the Simpsons visited the land down under...did not turn well at all. Should just let "nature" take its course...everything will all level out after a few hundred years.
It's just called the Australian Army. Bits of the Army have Royal commissions and so get to call themselves Royal (e.g. "Royal Australian Regiment", basically what the US would call the infantry corps). But the army as a whole doesn't, whereas the navy and air force do. As the British Army might say, "I fought two world wars, do they call me the world war winner? No. But you cut off the head of one king..."
The bugs they were supposed to eat live at the top of the sugar cane, whereas the toads live on the bottom. So not only did they not make a dent in the pest population, they attacked other, sometimes beneficial insects. IIRC, New Zealand also had raccoons introduced so their fur could be harvested, and but they've devastated the native bird population (NZ has the more bird species than anywhere else on the planet).
Homo sapiens are a part of this nature that steers this evolution, you know. Don't you think we should do our part?
Without planning, all consequences would be unintended.
Looking back on it, I blame hindsight.
From the report:
... you kind of have to treat this one as a double-edged sword is that ... there are incidences in Fiji and American Samoa of
:)
there a potential for basically substance abuse with cane toads. It's
kind of self limiting because people who smoke dried cane toads
usually end up dead, but people need to be aware of the potential for
that problem.
people drying toad skins and attempting to smoke them and winding
up dead in a very short order
Ah, Darwinism at its finest
Insert socio-economically sensitive comment about the plight of NT teenagers with such desolate lives that the thought of a cheap high from smoking toad skins is attractive. Compare to native american gasoline huffers. Move on to a different topic.
It may look like I'm doing nothing, but I'm actively waiting for my problems to go away.
--Scott Adams
By all accounts that I've heard of, you were very lucky with your dog and she probably did not get a direct hit on the poison glands. You did the right thing by recognizing the symptoms (foaming at the mouth, rapid pulse) and rinsing with water, but if it were me I'd also get to the veterenairan as quickly as possible.
:p
My sister had a dog about the same size that this happened to several years ago and by the time she got to the vet, the dog's muscles had gone completely rigid from convulsions...so much so that the vet had to inject a muscle relaxant before he could administer whatever anti-toxin it is that they use.
I agree that these things are not only vile but dangerous but I still have to attempt to approach them in a humane way. I don't think my wife would continue living with me if she saw me in the backyard whacking away at a living thing with a shovel. I have managed to catch a few and put them in plastic sacks, then just leave them in the garbage bin for collection. But this isn't exactly ideal or humane and the possibility exists that they could escape or are just being relocated by my doing this. I live in an urban area, so firearms or even pellet guns are not an option - that is, unless the toads start forming gangs and stealing the wheels off of my car. Then I think the use of deadly force would be justifiable under Florida law.
What if the Hokey Pokey really is what it's all about?