Backstory: Busting cane toads Down Under
Australian conservationist Graeme Sawyer is a top general in the defense against a literal amphibious assault.
from the March 16, 2007 edition
Page 3 of 4
On tonight's muster, about 30 locals – adults and children – have gathered at the Casuarina Coastal Reserve, a strip of bushland on Darwin's fringe, armed with powerful flashlights and clear plastic sacks.
Sawyer issues directions like a commander deploying his troops. "We'll sweep through the nature reserve in both directions," he tells them. "You should be able to see them from the reflections of their eyes. Just walk up to them, grab 'em from behind and put them in the bag. Simple."
The volunteers fan out into the darkness, nonchalantly stepping around a poisonous brown tree snake as it slithers through the wet grass.
"I caught three [toads] on my first outing. I find them repulsive," says Marilyn Bartels, an accountant, the beam of her flashlight slicing through the darkness.
Within a few minutes, two toads are found lurking in the undergrowth. They're unceremoniously scooped up and dropped in a sack. A large cane toad – Latin name Bufo marinus – resembles a half-deflated football and can fill the bottom of a bucket, weighing in at a hefty 1.3 pounds.
"I grew up in Brisbane, and we used to see heaps of green tree frogs, but since the cane toads arrived you don't see any," says volunteer Stacey Anderson, an entomologist. "This is people power in action – we can stop them if we want to."
Sawyer emerges from the darkness clutching a dozen writhing toads in each hand. They will be rendered unconscious with carbon-dioxide gas and put in a big freezer. Toad carcasses are processed into liquid fertilizer distributed to nurseries and hardware stores around Darwin, where it sells for almost $10 a bottle. Preliminary results have shown it is especially good for growing bananas and papayas.
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