Cane toads arrive in Western Australia

Environment Minister Donna Faragher is urging the community to maintain the fight against cane toads, following confirmation that the invasive species has reached the Western Australian border.

One cane toad was detected by Department of Agriculture and Food quarantine officials last night at the quarantine checkpoint of the Western Australia-Northern Territory border, about 40km east of Kununurra.

Officials were also able to hear a population of toads calling, indicating the imminent arrival of a breeding group.

The community is being urged to remain vigilant as the State Government continues to provide resources to deal with the issue.

“During the past month, we have put a range of measures in place to assist the community in managing the arrival of cane toads including the establishment of disposal points in Kununurra, the creation of a database to record sightings and a series of information brochures and Cane Toad packs,” Mrs Faragher said.

“It’s been an unprecedented joint government and community effort to stop the toads even before they crossed the border and it has involved hundreds of volunteers alongside wildlife and conservation officers.”

The Minister said the issue needed to be tackled from multiple fronts and work continues in research, quarantine and surveillance, biodiversity asset identification and protection and public awareness programs.

“The Department of Environment and Conservation’s surveillance and control team based in Kununurra will continue to work with community groups to reduce the number of toads moving west,” Mrs Faragher said.

“The State Government is also working with researchers at the University of Sydney to determine the impact that cane toads will have on our native animals and to find an effective control method.”

Minister's office - 9213 7250

____________________________________________________________________________

Moderator. Proud member of the Fishwrecked "Old Farts". Make sure your subscribed to Fishwrecked Reeltime http://fishwrecked-reeltime.com/


Posts: 441

Date Joined: 10/06/06

Cane Toads

Tue, 2009-03-03 13:31

They could'nt rid them in Queensland( there origin) nor the Northern Territory, Good luck trying to stop them at the West Australian borders there possibly already here.

Kev

FISHING IS MY ADDICTION

Posts: 27

Date Joined: 14/02/09

I dont know why the dont put

Tue, 2009-03-03 14:19

I dont know why the dont put a bounty on them.Not a free for all but issue permit/license to ensure the holders can id correctly and and pay $1 per toad make it worth someones time to go and catch them what does it matter if it takes 5,10,or 15 years and $100 000 000 paid to make a difference at least it a start.The cost to the environment you couldnt figure if things are left the way they are now I heard on the news $16 000 000 had recently been spent already on trying to work out a strategy to combat them.

My plan would have already had 16 000 000 dead toads.Who wouldnt want to move to the Kimberly NT or FNQ and be a toad buster.

hlokk's picture

Posts: 4292

Date Joined: 04/04/08

Unfortunately, there is

Tue, 2009-03-03 22:53

Unfortunately, there is 200,000,000 of them. 

Could make it 10c ea, but theres probably a lot of reasons why they couldnt do it unfortunately.

 

--------------

Addicted to jigging
Colin Hay's picture

Posts: 10407

Date Joined: 23/10/07

They used to do it for rabbits and foxes

Tue, 2009-03-03 14:26

Many a family survived because of the bounty on those feral animals. I can't see why they can't do it for cane toads.

Make sure you check it out

http://fishwrecked-reeltime.com/

____________________________________________________________________________

Moderator. Proud member of the Fishwrecked "Old Farts". Make sure your subscribed to Fishwrecked Reeltime http://fishwrecked-reeltime.com/

Posts: 27

Date Joined: 14/02/09

I believe it mite have

Tue, 2009-03-03 15:06

I believe it mite have been tabled once but thrown out because humane disposal of the toads couldnt be garunteed.

wadetolley's picture

Posts: 2258

Date Joined: 27/06/08

great idea kev

Tue, 2009-03-03 15:36

Great idea Kevin..pity your last name isnt Rudd ! 

 

IF YOU EVER NEED A LIMOUSINE...CALL LAKES LIMOUSINES BALLAJURA

MOBILE 0416341256 OR PH 92496113

Posts: 9358

Date Joined: 21/02/08

Well that and back in the

Tue, 2009-03-03 15:55

Well that and back in the day there were plenty of scalped rabbits running around that someone had collected the bounty on =0

____________________________________________________________________________

Clewesy's picture

Posts: 77

Date Joined: 21/12/08

My old mate

Tue, 2009-03-03 17:05

I grew up in north Queensland and all the wildlife have worked out the old cane toad. The birds flip them over to eat them and leave the poison that's located on there backs alone. The idea of a bounty is great and Queenslanders have been saying it for years, but it couldn't be a dollar a toad, well it could but I would be very rich and the government poor.

Sorry but there is no way of stopping them and in another 10 years or so they will be as far as they want to go??

Don't you just love the distruction of introduced species and that includes our waterways.

 

flangies's picture

Posts: 2550

Date Joined: 11/05/08

Might end up using the

Wed, 2009-03-04 00:17

Might end up using the suckers as bait one day.

With such a rapidly expanding population i bet some guy would stuff it up and breed the suckers to claim a bounty on.

 

_________________________________________________________ 

You couln't wipe that grin fom my face even with a hammer.

roberta's picture

Posts: 2773

Date Joined: 08/07/08

The wildlife are

Wed, 2009-03-04 07:24

 going to be the loosers unfortunately, I think from memory one female toad can lay up to 36,000 eggs at a time, I agree fellas should be a bounty on them, make it worth people's while to go and catch them.  Thank god for better quarantine laws now-a-days.

 

 

SPEWIE LEWIE (not for much longer)

Cockburn Power Boat Member

____________________________________________________________________________

Ginger Tablets Rock

 

Adam Gallash's picture

Posts: 15653

Date Joined: 29/11/05

prison workers

Wed, 2009-03-04 08:48

Maybe they should use prison work release people, get them on the border cleaning up the toads.  A couple of shotguns as motivation not to run away.

____________________________________________________________________________

Site Admin - Just ask if you need assistance

flangies's picture

Posts: 2550

Date Joined: 11/05/08

I have a very frightening

Sun, 2009-03-08 18:14

I have a very frightening video of what they do to our wildlife.

http://www.maniacworld.com/Cane-Toad-vs-Mouse.html

Took half a second to react to eating it .

Im not sure if the 2nd one is a cane toad but you wouldnt think they could eat a bird

http://www.maniacworld.com/frog-vs-bird.html

_________________________________________________________ 

You couln't wipe that grin fom my face even with a hammer.

big john's picture

Posts: 8765

Date Joined: 20/07/06

Border

Sun, 2009-03-08 18:57

People are in denial if they think they have only just arrived because one was found at the border checkpoint.

Anyone who has lived in that neck of the woods will know that there is a lot of freshwater billabongs, rivers etc along the WA/NT border that flood in the wet season. Places such as the freshwater section of the Keep River and the back end of Lake Argyle would no doubt have toad activity now.

Very sad!

John

I head a little FURTHER NORTH each year,
Leave the cities behind, out of sight of mind,
.......

____________________________________________________________________________

WA based manufacturer and supplier of premium leadhead jigs, fligs, bucktail jigs, 'bulletproof' soft plastic jig heads and XOS bullet jig heads.

Jigs available online in my web store!