Get your gloves and muster some cane toads

Published on 27 January 2022

It’s summer, it’s been wet and cane toads are out and about so how about joining the 2022 Great Cane Toad Bust!

The Great Cane Toad Bust kicked off this week, organised by the Watergum environmental group.

The aim is for people who live in an area affected by cane toads to collect as many as they can and take them out of the natural environment.

Peter Boyd, Biodiversity and Agricultural Projects Officer, said it’s a simple way to make a difference.

“Cane toads breed prolifically, compete with native animals and birds for food and habitat and are poisonous – they’re pretty nasty on all fronts,” Mr Boyd said.

“They are well established here but every toad we take out of the environment is only going to be a good thing,” he said.

Reports from a Mullumbimby resident last week suggest that the toads are enjoying a good breeding season and are out in large numbers.

“In four nights he caught 197 cane toads and that’s just one person so I am hoping more people will take up the challenge and join the cane toad crusade,” Mr Boyd said.

“Some of our staff members are organising cane toad busts in their neighbourhoods and the kids love it and the environment will be all the better for it as well.

“The most important thing to remember is to wear gloves and to make sure you know how to distinguish a cane toad from a native frog because there are some similarities,” he said.

Information about cane toad identification, collecting, and humanely disposing of cane toads is in the Cane Toad Control Handbook on the NSW DPI’s Feral Scan website.

People are encouraged to upload the results of their cane toad hunts to the Feral Scan website and to the Watergum website.

For media enquiries call Annie Lewis, Media and Communications Coordinator, on 02 6626 7321.