“Unfortunately the Achilles heel between Newry Station and the WA border is the Keep River National Park. Permit issues and restrictions on access for KTB volunteers to this NT National Park bring real fears that this area will be another Kakadu and a major uncontrolled breeding area for cane toads”. Lee Scott-Virtue, Volunteer toad buster, Founder and President, Kimberley Toad Busters.

“With the recent rains there is an abundance of suitable sites for cane toad breeding. Cane toads prefer sites of still water, with gradual slopes of little or no vegetation, normally man made. Already this season we have seen some sites where the ground is a carpet of moving cane toad metamorphs. A single female toad can lay up to 70,000 eggs per year. At the front line with abundant breeding locations and food resources the survival rate is high. We need a way of controlling cane toads while they are still small metamorphs if we have any hope of keeping cane toad numbers down in the Kimberley. Kimberley Toad Busters has found spraying Dettol around the banks of breeding sites to be the only effective option for metamorph control so far.” Ben Scott-Virtue, Volunteer toad buster and Field Coordinator, Kimberley Toad Busters.

Photos: Cane toad eggs, tadpoles and metamorphs. Contact Kimberley Toad Busters for more information on identification. Photo’s Del Collins and Katrina Nissen.

In other parts of Australia it has not been known that cane toads have arrived in an area until their numbers have reached high levels. Kimberley Toad Busters is urging everyone to keep an eye out for cane toads or breeding at any locations, especially between the WA border and Kununurra and along the Duncan Highway.

“From now on Kununurra is on red alert for cane toads, already four toads have been found in town as hitchhikers on vehicles. Please keep an eye out for cane toads and breeding, and an ear out for the distinctive male call. Contact Kimberley Toad Busters directly on 08 9168 2576 with any sightings.” John Cugley, Volunteer toad buster and Administration Coordinator, Kimberley Toad Busters.

“The toads have crossed Duncan Rd at Dingo Springs, Matilda Creek and Hicks Creek. All Aboriginal communities along the Duncan have recently been prepared to keep an eye and ear out for the cane toads. They are ready.” Mary-Anne Winton, Volunteer toad buster and Vice President, Kimberley Toad Busters.

With the arrival of cane toads eminent many people in Kununurra have been enjoying the biodiversity of their backyards before the current balance is upset.