Army called to fight toad invasion in Australia (Bufo Marinus - Toxic Cane Toads Alert!)

AFP on Yahoo ^ | 6/18/06 | AFP

[AlaskaErik]

Give every kid a pellet gun and $1 per toad bounty.

The anti-gun bigots have won the war in Australia. No one would ever advocate such a proposal without immediately being eviscerated by the loony leftists.

[CheyennePress]

Whoever knew? If we really wanted to find Saddam's chemical weapon stockpiles, all we had to do was release millions of these little toads into Iraq.

[TomGuy]

Sort of like the snakeheads in Maryland and other eastern areas. They are reproducing faster than authorities can kill them out, thanks to some one who introduced them to some area ponds.

[Bigg Red]

Army called to fight toad invasion in Australia

**
At first, I thought Bill Clinton was touring Australia.

[Bigg Red]

...take a garden hose and wash out your dog's mouth...

&&
I usually reserve that treatment for when my dog uses foul language.

[lightman]

ROFLMAO!

Guest croaker program, anyone?

[vetvetdoug]

Dogs that have ingested a Bufo spp. toad present a treatment challenge and sometimes a diagnostic nightmare. I save about half of those that are presented that I know have ingested a toad and I am aggressive in my treatment. Anything else other than aggressive treatment is just micturating upon a forest fire.

[KJC1]

Your stats sound like my two experiences (anecdotal of course). They were able to save her the first time, but not the second, both times she was rushed immediately for treatment.

[ReignOfError]

Sort of like the snakeheads in Maryland and other eastern areas. They are reproducing faster than authorities can kill them out, thanks to some one who introduced them to some area ponds.

The snakehead might still be containable -- they haven't found vast numbers yet. But they're a durable and stubborn species that can live out of water for days (like a mudcat from hell), so they can flop from pond to pond any time there's a decent rain.

The zebra mussel is abother threat; European freighters sucked them into their ballast tanks, and then dumped them in our ports, and they've crept up the rivers and completely infested the Great Lakes. They're crowding out the indigenous mollusks, and that has a trickle-down effect on species that are adapted to eating their old favorites and haven't adjusted their tastes to the new menu.

Exotic species are a serious deal; cane toads are Australia's strongest example, while North America's is kudzu. In the southeast, It found its dream home. In our climate and soil, it can grow inches a day. You can almost hear it growing. It swallows barns. And nothing that lives around here will eat it.

I've always wanted to start an Internet rumor that you can get high from smoking kudzu, because then the federal government would make wiping it out a top priority.

[ThomasThomas]

Give every kid a pellet gun and $1 per toad bounty

Australians are into really big knifes I think

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

"Import English Ivy because it's pretty"

If it makes you feel any better, American nurserymen returned the favor by exporting American ivy to Britain...American poison ivy. It didn't exist in Britain until then.

[ReignOfError]

If it makes you feel any better, American nurserymen returned the favor by exporting American ivy to Britain...American poison ivy. It didn't exist in Britain until then.

It does make me feel a little better. I've also heard that the indigenous British red squirrels are becoming increasingly scarce, because the American gray squirrels have invaded.

[GATOR NAVY]

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

Oh, and don't forget that raccoons did not exist in Europe until Herr Goebels decided it was desirable creature and imported it to Germany. It is now a universally detested pest from the Caucasus mountains to the Atlantic ocean.

[PatrickHenry]

Toad Invasion Ping List Don't ask to be added to or dropped from this list. Just don't.

[Charlespg]

[Dustbunny]

Arm the military with butterfly nets and start rounding up the toads.

[Doctor Stochastic]

Another problem is that hunters are importing raccoons from one state to another. While the raccoons are native to both states, the rabies virus is of differing strains.

[patton]

LOLOLOL - kudzu reefer madnes....

[ReignOfError]

Oh, and don't forget that raccoons did not exist in Europe until Herr Goebels decided it was desirable creature and imported it to Germany. It is now a universally detested pest from the Caucasus mountains to the Atlantic ocean.

I had no idea. With the number of raccoons we have around here, and the amount of damage they do tearing up trash cans and gnawing into attics, I can't imagine why anyone would introduce them on purpose.