Posted on 06/18/2006 3:26:40 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
SYDNEY (AFP) - An Australian state government called for the army to be deployed against an invasion of toxic toads.
Battalions of imported cane toads are marching relentlessly across northern Australia and the West Australian government wants soldiers to intercept the environmental barbarians.
State Environment Minister Mark McGowan has written to Defence Minister Brendan Nelson asking permission to use soldiers based in the neighbouring Northern Territory to kill the toads.
"The army in the Northern Territory is greater than any other part of Australia," McGowan told national radio.
"We'd seek the Commonwealth (federal government) to help us in fighting this terrible threat to native fauna in Western Australia."
The toads, Bufo Marinus, were introduced from South America into northeast Queensland state in the 1930s to control another pest -- beetles that were ravaging the sugar cane fields of the tropical northern coasts.
But the toads now number in the millions and are spreading westward through the Northern Territory, upsetting the country's ecosystem in their wake.
Cane toads have poisonous sacs on the back of their heads full of a venom so powerful it can kill crocodiles, snakes or other predators in minutes.
All attempts to fight the spread of the toads so far have failed.
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.
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.
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.
Army called to fight toad invasion in Australia
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At first, I thought Bill Clinton was touring Australia.
...take a garden hose and wash out your dog's mouth...
&&
I usually reserve that treatment for when my dog uses foul language.
ROFLMAO!
Guest croaker program, anyone?
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.
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.
"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.
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.
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Arm the military with butterfly nets and start rounding up the toads.
LOLOLOL - kudzu reefer madnes....
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.
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