Cane-Toad Sausages Anyone?
By Judy Evans
@JudyEv (381739)
Rockingham, Australia
November 15, 2016 4:50pm CST
I've written occasionally about cane toads – odious creatures that were introduced to Queensland years back to combat a particular beetle that was causing havoc in the sugar-cane plantations. Unfortunately the cane toad went bush and found it very much to his liking. He has now spread right across the top end of Australia and is heading down the Western Australian coast.
The cane toad has a poisonous gland just behind the head and has caused the near-extinction of some of our native reptiles and little carnivorous marsupials. Just how to combat this threat has caused conservationists some huge headaches.
The latest plan is to make sausages out of cane-toads. An ingredient is added to cause the animals to vomit and this aversion therapy means they learn to leave the toads alone. Residents in the Kimberley area are being asked to collect as many toads as possible as that sausage-making can continue apace.
Native animals are most at risk when toads first move into an area. It is hoped the aversion therapy method will result in pockets of land where the native animals can survive.
As I don't have a photo of my own of a cane-toad, here's one of this morning's visitor to our bird-bath.
Residents in WA's north are being asked to collect as many cane toads as they can to be minced for a mass toad sausage delivery as part of a conservation project.
12 people like this
13 responses
@crazyhorseladycx (39503)
• United States
16 Nov 16
don'tcha wish more thought'd go into folks brains 'fore they do such? i hope that sorta therapy 'tis successful. sadly, those can toads sound like many plants/water species 'n critters that've been introduced here'n the u.s. fer a few centuries :(
1 person likes this
@crazyhorseladycx (39503)
• United States
16 Nov 16
@JudyEv they ne'er've the sense, hon. therein lies the trouble :( kinda like the kudzu they imported from japan. sure, helped with soil erosion out'n the hills. but, also 'tis chokin' out e'ery tree/vine/shrub/telephone pole, home 't can get 'tself attached to :(
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (381739)
• Rockingham, Australia
16 Nov 16
@crazyhorseladycx We have a heap of 'introduced weeds' as they are now termed. Most are/were garden plants that have 'escaped' into farm- and bushland.
1 person likes this
@kevinakash (2084)
• Sri Lanka
20 Nov 16
sosages made of toads? doesnot sound interesting for me. really i don't know of which local sosages made? but sure not from toads
1 person likes this
@kevinakash (2084)
• Sri Lanka
21 Nov 16
@JudyEv when i reached that part "the latest plan is to make sausages out of cane-toads" it urged me to write this bcz they sound terrible to me. now i understood it well
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (381739)
• Rockingham, Australia
21 Nov 16
Did you read the whole post? The sausages are only to feed to native animals not for people. The sausages make the animals a little bit sick so they will learn not to eat the cane toads. If they eat a cane toad they will die as they are poisonous.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (381739)
• Rockingham, Australia
21 Nov 16
@kevinakash I like sausages but I wouldn't want to eat one made from toads.
1 person likes this
@Jessicalynnt (50523)
• Centralia, Missouri
16 Nov 16
I am both appalled and fascinated by this.... O.o
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@Jessicalynnt (50523)
• Centralia, Missouri
17 Nov 16
@JudyEv um, no, just no, lol!!!!
1 person likes this
@Fishmomma (11658)
• United States
16 Nov 16
No that will not be dinner ever in my house. The United States has a lot of problems with certain animals wiping others out and we don't need this one. It sounds like it would be a bad addition.
1 person likes this
@Fishmomma (11658)
• United States
17 Nov 16
@JudyEv Oh boy that is certainly better than I had thought reading the post yesterday. I had terrible thoughts about dinner.
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@JudyEv (381739)
• Rockingham, Australia
17 Nov 16
I maybe didn't make myself clear. The sausages are to feed to the native animals so they gain an aversion to cane toads and will leave them alone. I hope it works.
@BelleStarr (61463)
• United States
17 Nov 16
It is never a good idea to introduce non-indigenous animals, fish, and vegetation to areas. I think many places have found this to their detriment. That seems like a potentially good solution, I guess they will just have to wait and see.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (381739)
• Rockingham, Australia
16 Nov 16
If we don't do something we will lose our native animals and birds. The cane toads need to be stopped.
@JamesHxstatic (29410)
• Eugene, Oregon
15 Nov 16
What an awful problem those little toads have become. So many things that seemed like a good idea at the time turn out to be worse than the problem they were brought in to solve.
1 person likes this
@JohnRoberts (109841)
• Los Angeles, California
16 Nov 16
We have the same kind of issues in the US. There are some non-native animals wreaking havoc like your cane toads.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (381739)
• Rockingham, Australia
16 Nov 16
The cane toads were a relatively recent importation. Foxes and rabbits came with almost the first settlers. You'd think they'd learn not to bring in these potential disasters.
@teamfreak16 (43567)
• Denver, Colorado
16 Nov 16
Yep, sounds like they are taking over. In Colorado, we have some sort of beetle that's laying waste to our forests.
1 person likes this
