Toad Media
AUTHOR DI MORRISSEY SPEAKS FROM THE EAST COAST….
No frogs sang in my lily pond
I moved to beautiful Byron Bay (the most easterly point of Australia)
fifteen years ago and discovered paradise was over run with cane
toads.
I will never forget one night driving home and seeing in the headlights
the front grass alive with hundreds of tiny toads. No frogs sang
in my lily pond.
I have lived with the harsh arrgh croaks of toads during the night,
the hideous bloated bodies of road kill, the terror of your dog
rushing in blinded or foaming at the mouth from a cane toad squirt,
the knowledge of the damage being done to native wild life.
And as I traveled I learned this insidious invasion is on the march
and the knowledge able voices of scientists and researchers are
drowned by the toad’s gloating aaargh and deaf bureaucratic
ears.
I have learned billabongs are nurseries, tadpoles the cannon fodder
that kills many species. Our rivers are conduits, the toads are
in the headwaters of the Murray-Darling….go figure, it’s
simple maths.
Aboriginal communities are seeing their bush tucker – like
goannas – being wiped out. Quolls are in desperate straits,
disappearing fast.
Urban myths persist that birds are learning to flip toads over
and eat their bellies. Birds might go for road kill and eat the
toad’s tongue, the non toxic part, but in truth our birds
are dying. Will our children hear the kookaburra laugh? I encourage
all Australians to support moves to do something, raise your voice,
proclaim your concern, lobby your representatives, give donations,
so practical and effective efforts like trapping are funded.
Unless you want the cry …aargh to be in your backyard. Our
country is threatened on many fronts. Let’s at least knock
dammed toads on the head. It can be done.
Please help us.
Di Morressey
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