NORTHERN TERRITORY NEWS (Darwin, Australia) 09 October 13 Cash cutoff heralds march of tiny, toady feet
A Top End environmental group has said cane toad numbers will explode now its funding has been cut.
Frogwatch, a not-for-profit organisation that researches frog species and helps to eradicate cane toads, had its funding slashed by the NT Government.
The group's co-ordinator Graeme Sawyer said the funding was taken away last year when the CLP came to power in the Territory.
"We had a three-year contract with a big bio-diversity focus, toad busting was a component of that, we had $200,000 to run and (the Government) cut it back to zero," Mr Sawyer said.
"The reason given was a change in priorities."
The former Darwin Lord Mayor and environmentalist said the lack of money meant Frogwatch only now operated on a volunteer basis and less was being done to curb the cane toad population.
"It (funding cuts) makes all the difference in the world when it comes to clearing up hot spots, we have more people to respond to call outs, for example," he said.
The first sign of a possible cane toad explosion has been spotted at Marlow Lagoon in Palmerston.
Residents living near the lagoon, 24 kilometres south of Darwin, are hopping mad at the sight of toads crawling through the recreational area.
The lagoon was named after Joseph Marlow, a famous English cricket player, but today the Brit's bat would be more use hitting toads as the area crawls with the critters.
Mr Sawyer said the cane toads across the Territory were killing native species.
"We used to be able to look at those hot spots several times a month, now we're lucky to go there once a month, there could be (cane toad) eggs everywhere," he said.
"Bio-diversity decline in the NT right now is up there with the worst in the world."
Minister for the Environment Peter Chandler deferred to the Parks and Wildlife portfolio held by Bess Price, who was unable to respond by the time of publication.
http://www.ntnews.com.au/article/2013/10/09/325870_ntnews.html
NORTHERN TERRITORY NEWS (Darwin, Australia) 11 October 13 Toad cull cash kill 'spin' not tolerated (David Wood)
Frogwatch has hit back at claims by a minister in Parliament that its funding has been cut by mutual agreement.
Parks and Wildlife Minister Bess Prices yesterday said she wanted to correct a report in the NT News from Wednesday quoting FrogWatch co-ordinator Graeme Sawyer saying the Territory Government had axed $200,000 in funding.
FrogWatch aims to keep numbers of cane toads down in and around Darwin and does some monitoring of reptile numbers.
"Let this be clear, this government did not cut the funding to FrogWatch," Ms Prices said. "The contract was terminated by mutual agreement, effective 31 March, 2013."
But Mr Sawyer said that claim was insulting and showed the minister "was being spun by her department as she was not the minister at the time".
"We did not and do not agree with the cut but were given no choice," he said.
"The NTG has the right to cut programs like this and the broader education program it involved but it should be upfront with the community about why and then accept the responsibility for the results."
Ms Price said the money for FrogWatch had come out of the Parks and Wildlife budget and was money being taken away from rangers to keep parks clean and tidy.
Mr Sawyer said Darwin was now exposed to a renewed threat from cane toads. He said they had recently removed 200,000 cane toad tadpoles from Darwin and several thousand adult cane toads.
http://www.ntnews.com.au/article/2013/10/11/326005_ntnews.html
