Don't Panic - CANE TOADS ABOUT !

 

I was working quietly yesterday, sipping coffee and churning through my tasks with zen-like focus. It was Friday and my weekend was so close I could taste it. Even better, after months of constant, horror bushfires and terrible drought; it was raining heavily outside. Utter bliss !

My serenity was shattered when a friend approached, his face long, asking whether I'd seen today's Newcastle Herald?

On their website, front-and-centre, with a glorious full-colour photo of a beautiful, obviously very "pregnant"*, native Perons tree frog was an article, "CANE TOAD found on Maryland verandah".  To paraphrase, the article went on to reveal how the invasive cane toad had been caught, identified as a cane toad by the resident & put in the freezer.  

I couldn't believe it.  OK, fair enough that a member of the public had made a mistake.  We've all been swamped with the message to watch out for the terrible cane toad - it's on it's way here, it kills everything that tries to eat it, etc, etc, etc.  People are trying to do the right thing by our environment. 

I was annoyed that a journalist didn't take the time to do the obvious.  How hard was it to check the ID with one of our world renowned frog experts at the nearby University of Newcastle (just a few suburbs away from Maryland), the National Parks & Wildlife Service office at the Hunter Wetlands Centre (also a few suburbs away from Maryland), get on the phone to the Australian Museum or do something as simple as a google image search ?

  

Fortunately they corrected the story a few hours later, see screenshot below;  

OK this time the animal was a very common, non-threatened native animal.  It is probable that hundreds just like her will be unknowingly run over by motorists in this evening's rain across the Hunter valley.  But it is food for thought isn't it?  The lesson for anyone who reads articles about invasive animals like the cane toad is clear.  Talk only to your National Parks & Wildlife Service or wildlife authorities before you do anything as drastic as killing an animal that might actually be a native animal, or even worse - an endangered native animal.            

* Not actually "pregnant" - based on the time of year and her very obviously distended abdomen, she was gravid - chock full of thousands of unfertilised eggs and ready to spawn that evening in the teeming rain.