PERTH TIMES (Australia) 18 August 08 Cane toad's Aussie birthday (Narelle Towie)
Exactly 73 years after cane toads were released on to Australian soil experts are begging the State Government for more funding to control the deadly invaders.
Volunteer wildlife protection group the Kimberley Toad Busters say they haven’t got enough to money to last them past December even though cane toads are only 20km from the WA border.
By the end of the year the poisonous amphibians are expected to cross into Lake Argyle in the Kimberley and begin their deadly journey across the state, the KTB warn.
Last year the group received $300,000 from the State Government but this is only enough for one year’s toad busting.
Despite the deadly consequences of a toad invasion and the positive work the toad busters have executed, their recommendations to the State government and pleas for federal funding have been ignored, they say.
“To date there has been no formal government support, response or funding for our management plans. The only response has been that we have been advised the State government has contracted someone to write another WA State Cane Toad Strategy,” acting KTB vice-president Sandy Boulter said.
The group, who have spent over 500,000 hours catching, weighing and killing the toads to try and delay their WA arrival, warn waiting any longer will spell doom for native frogs and animals.
“The Kimberley Toad Busters have been calling for State Government support for education and proactive management in Kununurra for over four years,” Ms Boulter said.
“The cane toads will kill impact local fisheries by killing barramundi and silver cobbler but no one seems to be thinking about the commercial impact.
“We have asked the Federal Government for some money to start our scientific research project to to study the impacts on agriculture on the Ord River floodplains.”
Letter to Environment Minister David Templeman have gone unanswered they add.
On August 18, 1935 the Queensland Government and local cane-growers released 101 adult cane toads into the sugar cane fields to try and combat beetles and the results were devastating.
The 25cm pests stampeded through Queensland and New South Wales before marching into the Northern Territory using their poison glands to wipe out native fauna along the way.
The cane toad, originally from South America, is listed as among the world’s worst 100 invasive species.
Cane toad's Aussie birthday