Toad Media

MEDIA RELEASE

Saturday 21 October 2006

CANE TOAD TAKES A MASSIVE HIT

Western front pushed back by orchestrated volunteer effort

The first month of the Great Cane Toad Muster has seen the total numbers of cane toads taken out of the landscape reach 35,000. An army of volunteers marshalled by the Stop the Toad Foundation has delivered a massive assault on the noxious invader in the Victoria River region of the NT by a combination of trapping and hand capture. In one night (Monday 16th) a staggering 5500 cane toads were removed from one waterhole alone.

STTF Patron Tim Winton, who has just returned from the Muster, said today that “all our months of planning have borne fruit. It seems that our strategic approach is paying dividends. We’re literally clearing these toxic pests out of the last water points and forcing them eastward away from the WA border, so the results are very encouraging.” Paying tribute to the volunteer effort of those who’ve joined in this historic effort, Winton said “These people are heroes. My hope is that one day these people will get the thanks and the credit they deserve for helping defend WA from this invasion.”

To this point in the Great Cane Toad Muster 124 people have offered their services in very hot and difficult conditions and 925 human work days, and nights, have been harnessed in the effort. The ages of volunteers has ranged from 10 to 72.

STTF Vice-chair Luc Longley who also returned recently from base camp at Timber Creek in the NT said that “the numbers are so huge that we might be forced to stop counting and simply start weighing dead toads. It’s pretty satisfying, though, to see the difference you’re making. It’s great news.”

The Muster, which runs for 6 weeks is the first sustained field exercise of its kind ever mounted and its fostering of a new can-do community spirit marks a real turning point in the battle against Australia’s most destructive feral pest. The Stop the Toad Foundation is dedicated to holding the cane toad frontline and forcing it eastward away from the Kimberley and the Ord River system until a biological control can be produced.

For more details:
Stopthetoad.com
Latest Muster newsletter

Campaign Manager - Dennis Beros 0409 244029