Originally imported from Hawaii and released in Queensland as a biological control for beetle pests of sugar cane, the cane toad is now a well-established pest itself. Despite being less widespread than foxes or rabbits, community surveys consistently rank the toad as our most hated invasive animal and it is listed as a key threatening species under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act Today, most people know the cane toad was deliberately released as a biological control, but may not be familiar with the events that led to their release.
Sugar cane had been commercially grown in Queensland since the s and losses caused by white grub attacks began to be a serious problem in the s. The grubs — the larvae of up to 13 different species of native beetles — eat the roots of the cane, causing the plants to die.
By , entomologists employed by BSES had been studying the biology of the cane beetles and investigating solutions to their impacts for around 25 years. Plenty of good science was produced during this time — the life cycles of several beetle species were described and an understanding of their biology and ecology had been worked out enabling more focused control measures.
Many field and lab trials were done in a bid to develop effective controls including the use of various chemical insecticides, soil-fumigation methods, biocontrols such as parasitic fungi and native insects, physical removal methods, and agricultural and cultivation practices.
Some of these showed promise but were prohibitively expensive or not readily available, and others were simply not effective. He was convinced the cane toad was the answer to a major agricultural crisis in the sugar industry, as they had reportedly solved similar beetle problems in Hawaii, the Philippines and Puerto Rico. In , a paper was presented by a woman named Raquel Dexter at the 4th Congress of the International Society of Sugar Cane Technologists in Peurto Rico on the use of Bufo marinus as a biological control for beetle infestations in sugar crops there 4.
The toad was subsequently taken from Peurto Rico to Honolulu to control beetle infestations in Hawaiian sugar cane fields. In June , Mungomery travelled to Hawaii where he captured toads and brought them back to Australia. When he arrived at the Meringa experimental farm near Gordonvale in far north Queensland on 22 June , all but one toad had survived the journey.
The toads were housed in a purpose-built enclosure and left to breed. On 19 August that year, toads were released into sites around Gordonvale 4. In less than two months the number of toads had increased at least fold. Further releases of toads in the Cairns and Innisfail areas soon followed. He lobbied the federal government to exercise caution and the Director-General of Health banned any further release of toads in December But this ban was to be short lived.
Toads were then released throughout the sugar cane regions of Queensland. Environment COP26 nears conclusion with mixed signals and frustration.
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Travel My Hometown In L. Subscriber Exclusive Content. Why are people so dang obsessed with Mars? How viruses shape our world. The era of greyhound racing in the U. See how people have imagined life on Mars through history. See More. The warty amphibians move only during the wet season. Although tracking studies have shown many hop less than 10 metres a day, those at the front line have grown bigger and faster. Essentially they have turned into these dispersal machines and they move as far as they can, as fast as they can.
Experts are reluctant to speculate on how many of these unwelcome pests have been unleashed across Australia's north.
They are prolific breeders - some estimates put the figure at around 1. Australia has a long and depressing history of inadvertently introducing wrecking ball species as pets and livestock, or for sport.
Examples include foxes, pigs and rabbits, goats, camels and cats. Invasive plants and fish have also had a dramatic effect on native flora and fauna, but it is the cane toad that is widely reviled above all else. For Australia, the grim story began in the sugar cane plantations of Puerto Rico, which had imported giant toads from South America to eat the grubs that were devouring the crop.
Word spread of the successes of these bug-catching amphibians and by the s, the cane toads were being sent around the world. In , toads arrived in Far North Queensland in areas including Cairns and Innisfail, before being bred in captivity.
Their progeny was released on missions to hunt and kill cane-destroying beetles on Australia's north-east coast. Community toad "musters" have snared countless numbers over the years. In David Tollner, a former federal MP, famously urged Northern Territory residents to help squash the problem with their golf clubs and cricket bats - effectively turning eradication into sport. Then there was the so-called "bottom-line" defence supported by the RSPCA in Darwin, which recommended killing captured amphibians by smearing them with haemorrhoid cream, which acted as an anaesthetic.
In , toads crossed the Western Australian border with the Northern Territory, more than 2,km from the site of their original release 74 years earlier.
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