Toad Media

MEDIA RELEASE

16 October 2009

TOADS GET ‘NEW’ FOCUS

The first cane toad National Eradication Week (NEW) has just finished and 8 community groups across northern Australia have been out and about ‘busting’ cane toads.

“This is the first time a national approach has been trialled, said Kim Hands, Campaign Manager from Stop the Toad Foundation (STTF).

“Thanks to the Federal Government’s Caring for our Country program, it has shown that there are many people who have had enough of cane toads in their communities and want to be a part of removing them.

The eradication week was run in conjunction with the WA Great Toad Muster and over 7000 cane toads were taken from northern NSW through Queensland and the Northern Territory to Lake Argyle in WA. During the week toads were removed from cities (Darwin), towns, sporting facilities, and from pastoral properties across the ‘top-end’ using temporary fencing, trapping and hand collection.

“This is about Australians reclaiming their country from an alien species that has been proven to devastate wildlife populations, said Ms Hands. We have been supported by over 5000 hours of volunteer effort which demonstrates that people power is one of the most effective tools at caring for our country and controlling cane toads at the moment.

There have been many attempts at finding a biological solution to the cane toad problem and although there are some promising research directions at present, physical removal is currently the only solution.

“Just imagine if everyone picked up 10 toads each. The NEW approach has demonstrated that toads can be removed at a landscape scale and we do something about this environmental issue”, said Ms Hands.

For comment and photos: Kim Hands 0400 130 397

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