NORTHERN TERRITORY NEWS (Darwin, Australia) 20 March 06 Free beer for toads (Ben Langford)
Territorians are being offered free beer in return for live cane toads.
The RSPCA, Coopers Brewery and the Cavenagh Hotel have teamed up in the name of animal welfare and the result is that toads can be turned into beer.
In a move designed to turn seasoned Top End beer drinkers into lean, mean, toad-catching machines, the three Darwin organisations have got together to set up a toad-for-beer exchange.
Anyone over the age of 18 who captures a toad and delivers it alive to the Darwin RSPCA qualifies for a glass of icy cold Coopers beer at the Cavenagh Hotel.
``Everyone who takes a cane toad to the RSPCA to be disposed of humanely gets a voucher for a free pot of Coopers ale at the Cav,'' Coopers Brewery's NT sales executive Sean Gould said.
He said there would be a beer for each toad - up to a limit of six a day.
``It's an idea we had from the locally-produced movie Bufo Marinators that screened at the Cav last week,'' Mr Gould said.
The film, which featured a posse of toad hunters and a simulated orgy of bufo killing, caused quite a fuss.
``We want to encourage the humane treatment of animals,'' acting chief executive of RSPCA Darwin Lindsay Wilkinson said yesterday.
``If you get a free Coopers out of it then it's a bonus.''
Cavenagh Hotel general manager Brett Simmonds said: ``It's all about the toads, not about the beer.'' But the toads must be alive.
``No coupons for squashed toads,'' Mr Wilkinson said.
He was keen to make it clear he wasn't starting a roadkill collection. ``Healthy, live, no squashed cane toads,'' he said.
And Mr Simmonds agreed, saying the deal was ``fresh toads for fresh beer''.
While the toad catchers are enjoying their cold ale, the RSPCA will be busy euthanasing the toads with sodium pentobarbitone, an overdose of barbituates administered with a few drops on the skin that kills toads immediately.
``It's the most humane way to kill an animal,'' Mr Wilkinson said.
``They just go to sleep.''
But beer fiends shouldn't get too worked up.
Mr Simmonds said there would be a six-pot maximum per person per day.
``The idea is to get people catching toads and taking them for humane disposal, not to get people too drunk,'' Mr Simmonds said.
``If you take six toads in to the RSPCA, you get six vouchers. If you take 100 toads, you get six vouchers.''
But he's worried people will get the wrong idea and deliver a bucket load of toads to his pub hoping to trade them for a few cold ones.
Mr Simmonds said no one would get a beer for taking a toad to the pub.
He said the toads must be taken to the RSPCA at 80 Boulter Rd Berrimah between 1pm and 5pm on weekdays.
Vouchers for the promotion will be valid until April 30.
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I try not to editorialise, but the item above brings back good memories.
The item reminds me of spring of 1995, when I was serving as a peacekeeper in Croatia. My garrison was situated near a woods that was a home to Fire salamanders (Šareni daždevnjak) …. most of whom had to trot (slowly) through our camp, spring and fall, on their way to-and-fro the breeding and hibernation sites.
The locals had previously identified these salamanders to the multi-national peacekeepers as the equivilant of ‘venomous vermin’, and my peers had been warned that the Fires were absolutely dangerous.
By the time I got to the camp for my tour, soldiers wearing blue berets had been stmping caudates flat on the camps’ roads for over three years.
I immediately started an education campaign in the various messes (soldiers clubs) about the local herp wildlife, and emphasied that the omni-present Fire Salamanders and some-times seen ‘Glass Lizard’ (or ‘Glavor’ in local parlance) were in fact harmless and both deserving of our protection. To emphasise the value of the migrating amphibians, I put up a bounty of a bottle of Heiniken for each Fire Salamander turned into the Intelligence trailer. (My staff by this time were well used to my idiosyncrasies). Later, the bounty was offered on the honour-system … if you moved a Fire off of the road or out of the vehicle compound, the beer would appear. After two months … the Canadians and Czechs were moving the by-then-infrequently-seen Fire salamanders out of pits and trenches without benefit of beer! (The Argentinians were still having problems handling the sudden appearance of Glass Lizards from within the collapsed buildings on their side of the camp – they were convinced that the criers were not only venomous … but had supplemental stings in their tail!)
So, while the intentions of our (mine and Australia’s) two beer-bounties are completely at odds, it does go to show that … at least with young male herpers … a proper education and modest incentive program can have significant effects.
Cheers all,
