Toad News
20 September 2008
The West Australian, PHILIPPA PERRY
September 20, 2008
Original
story
Toad volunteers battling the odds
 With
fences, nets and camping equipment at the ready, a small band of
determined volunteers are preparing for battle against the encroaching
cane toad at the annual Great Toad Muster, due to kick off today.
Despite dire predictions the toads will march across the Northern
Territory border into WA within the next few months, the group believe
theirs is a cause worth fighting for.
Organised by Perth-based Stop the Toad Foundation, about 70 volunteers
from all walks of life will travel to a cattle station near the
tiny town of Timber Creek in the NT, aiming to slow the progress
of the destructive pests into WA.
In its third year, the month-long muster will involve volunteers
temporarily fencing off water holes where the toads like to congregate,
collecting them at night, killing them and then analysing the data.
But with a dead cane toad discovered in Kununurra on Wednesday and
reports that the toads are only 20km from the State border, some
may argue their efforts are futile.
Foundation patron, author Tim Winton, who will join the group at
the front line next week, said they knew the odds were not good
but they had slowed the toads’ progress.
Since the first muster in 2006, the group have removed more than
60,000 cane toads near the WA border as well as doing scientific
research on the collected toads.
Department for Environment and Conservation Kimberley regional manager
Daryl Moncrieff said it was highly likely the toads, which thrive
in wet weather, could reach WA during this wet season, with rains
starting as early as next month.
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