Cane toads are on a breeding frenzy on the Gold Coast, with thousands of their babies blanketing roads and infiltrating backyards in otherwise idyllic beachside suburbs.
Key points:
- Tugun and Currumbin residents are reporting an explosion in baby cane toad numbers
- An adult cane toad has enough toxin to kill a medium-sized dog if swallowed
- Locals are being urged to go toad busting to help control toad populations
Toad experts say recent wet and humid conditions have created the ideal conditions for the pest to get frisky, which has led to a dramatic increase of metamorph, or baby, toads appearing earlier in the summer season than in recent years.
"We're seeing an absolute explosion in cane toad numbers from the Gold Coast with lots of reports of these moving carpets of metamorph toads," Watergum invasive species project officer, Nikki Tomsett said.
Fingal Head resident Anna Eglitzky is passionate about native wildlife and the fight against toads.
In the past six weeks, she had removed five lots of cane toad eggs from the pond in her backyard, and the slimy amphibian was not letting up.
"We go down to the pond in the morning and boom, there's another big patch of eggs," Ms Egltizky said.
"It's devastating," she said.
Fears for wildlife and pets
There are now concerns about how the burgeoning population will impact native wildlife, as well as pets.
Adult cane toads hold enough toxin to kill a medium-sized dog within 15 minutes if fully consumed.
"The toad secretes a milky toxin from the paratoid glands when stressed, which can poison pets or wildlife," Ms Tomsett said.
She said if you thought your pet might have eaten a cane toad, it was best to wipe its mouth out with a damp cloth and either take it to the vet or monitor it for symptoms.
Recently, Ms Eglitzky was shattered to see the toad's deadly impact on native wildlife firsthand.
"We had a pond full of dainty tree frog tadpoles, they'd started growing their little legs," Ms Eglitzky said.
The next morning, cane toads had spawned in the pond and Ms Eglitzky could only watch on as the tree frog tadpoles ate the toxic toad spawn and unintentionally poisoned themselves.
"Over a couple of hours I just watched the decimation of hundreds of our native tree frogs," she said.
Griffith University Professor Hamish MacCallum said a few cunning native animals had learned how to kill and eat the toads without getting sick, including Ibis.
"Crows have learned to tip the toads on their backs and eat their bellies out, as the toad's poison glands are on their neck," Professor MacCallum said.
Ibis have reportedly employed a "stress and wash" method to reduce toxin levels in toads before eating them.
Toad busting tips
Residents are being urged to safely go "toad busting" to control numbers across the Gold Coast.
"It's easiest to control cane toads when they're still in the water in those egg or tadpole phases," Ms Tomsett said.
"Keep an eye out in waterways and just see if you can pull a string of eggs out or scoop and trap tadpoles. You can remove hundreds or thousands at once," she said.
Eggs and tadpoles should be safely disposed of as the pests are toxic at every stage of life. Wearing gloves is an essential part of toad busting.
For tadpoles, pop them in the fridge for eight hours and follow up with the same amount of time in the freezer.
Adult cane toads take longer to be killed humanely, so toad busters should place them in the fridge for 12 hours to anaesthetise them and then keep them in the freezer for another 24 hours.
"Even though they're an introduced pest, there's still no excuse for animal cruelty. You shouldn't be going out and hitting them with a golf club," Professor MacCallum said.
Unmanageable and evolving
Control of cane toads is not enforced by any level of government in Queensland.
"They're unmanageable in the sense that they can never be eliminated from areas where they're in reasonably high numbers, like the Gold Coast," Professor MacCallum said.
"They do quite well on the Gold Coast because there's lots of human-disturbed habitat.
"There is evidence now that they're beginning to evolve to be able to handle the cooler temperatures of southern New South Wales."
The City of Gold Coast council told the ABC that cane toad control was not enforced by local government under the Biosecurity Act.
In a statement, a spokesperson from Biosecurity Queensland said control of cane toads was not enforced as there was no available effective broad-scale control.