Toad Media

MEDIA RELEASE

16 August 2006

Stop The Toad Foundation strategy shows promise

Recent field work in the Timber Creek area further confirms the central concepts of the Stop The Toad Foundation’s strategy for cane toad control. Trials on Auvergne Lagoon and nearby areas have shown that multiple consecutive night toadbusts can be effective in removing cane toads from a local area.

After removing 571 toads from the Auvergne Lagoon system over four nights in June, transects repeated over subsequent weeks have rendered only very small numbers of toads (always less than 10 per visit). In contrast, results of one-off and weekly busts indicate that these activities have only limited impacts on toad numbers.

“This confirms our understanding that not all toads will come out of their refuges to rehydrate in nearby water every night” said STTF Regional Coordinator Graeme Sawyer. “Therefore busts on successive nights, to get all individuals, is essential if local eradication is to be achieved.”

“Conducting successive night ‘busts’ across the Whirlwind Plains at the end of the Dry season is at the heart of our strategy”, he said.

STTF reconnaissance also reveals that in parts of the plains cane toads are using cattle hoof prints as refuge sites during the day. This suggests that there are not enough suitable refuge sites for them in the area, so as the hot dry period approaches some cane toads will find it much more difficult to survive.

“The nature of this country lends itself to toad control, and this is why it has been identified as the STTF’s primary buffer zone” said Graeme.

The GREAT TOAD MUSTER is a major toadbusting activity planned from Sept 23 to October 31 to deliver multiple night activities at a time when water is at its scarcest.

The Foundation seeks support from all groups and individuals involved or interested in toadbusting to get behind this plan in order to maximise impact of the movement of cane toads towards WA.

For information on the Auvergne Lagoon report see www.stopthetoad.com/news/news060628auvergne_lagoon.php

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