A heartfelt cry from the Kununurra Community to the Nation now fighting to stop the cane toad from crossing into WA since Sept. 2004. We will Stop the Cane Toads getting into WA! |
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Rare Pygmy Crocodiles N ewly Discovered on Bullo River Station Face Extinction from Imminent Cane Toad Invasion (Media release from KTBs by Sandy Boulter 31 January 2008 )
Craig Mills’ shocking photo of one of our freshwater crocodiles – poisoned and killed by eating cane toads - floating on, rotting in and polluting a pristine Australian billabong after emptying its bowel contents all over the belly of its dying carcass. This fate awaits the rare Bullo River pygmy crocodile and all other inhabitants of these systems. Craig’s photo was taken on one of his regular toadbusting trips to the Northern Territory, on a billabong between the West Baines River and the Pinkerton Ranges , shown in the extreme background reflecting their pink hue. This billabong is around 80kms from the WA/NT border as the eagle flies. Craig caught 600 cane toads that night at this billabong after snapping the dead crocodile. Craig is one of the very small Kununurra based DEC cane toad team who work closely with the KTBs. In writing her internationally famous 1993 biography From Strength to Strength, Sara Henderson would not have dreamed that a rare pygmy crocodile was living and breeding on her beloved Bullo River Station . Sara would also be horrified to find that no sooner has this rare crocodile species been discovered on Bullo, the feral, prolific breeding, and very poisonous cane toad is about to arrive … and there is no Australian predator of the cane toad (in any stage of its life cycle) that is immune to its poison (except maybe the keelback snake).
Photo: Fresh water gorge on Bullo River Station – what will cane toads do to this ecosystem and its dependent inhabitants? |
Remote wild Bullo and Victoria Rivers flow through spectacular freshwater gorges within the 1,200 square mile Bullo River Station. These gorges are home to frogs, reptiles, saratoga , sooty grunter and barramundi; and then finish their journey into huge tidal flows where species such as saltwater barramundi, threadfin salmon, mangrove jacks and jewfish thrive. Cane toads, in all stages of their life cycle, will kill these fish. Dave Woods, KTBs recently appointed KTB field coordinator employee and cane toad reconnaissance expert says, “The KTBs call on scientists working in cane toad research, to please hurry up with finding a solution, or at the very least - finding a less labour intensive way to catch, kill and dispose of cane toads.”
The KTBs wonder just how many unknown Queensland species suffered extinction from cane toads? The Arnhem Land population of pygmy crocodiles at the Liverpool River was overrun by cane toads in 2000/2001 and their fate is unknown?
Bullo River Station owners, Franz and Marlee Ranacher need help to build pens to protect these crocodiles from cane toads, and to catch and kill cane toads. The Kimberley Toad Buster volunteers are working closely with Marlee and Franz to help them save the pygmy crocodile, and the pristine Bullo River Station ecosystems (and their dependent biodiversity) from the imminent ravages of the cane toad.
Lee Scott-Virtue, “The KTBs call on the NT and federal governments for their help and for private sponsorship to help the Bullo River Station owners face this difficult challenge .”
Cane toads will reach Bullo River Station through the upper reaches of creek systems flowing into the Victoria River north of the glorious and remote Pinkerton Ranges . This particular colonising corridor of the westwards moving cane toads (moving steadily west from Fancy Creek) is being fed primarily by toads crossing the Victoria River from their safe breeding grounds on the Commonwealth controlled Bradshaw Military Base, located on the northern banks of the Victoria River. Sandy Boulter, “The KTBs call on the army to start taking responsibility for toadbusting on the land it controls. ”
Photo: Bullo River Station – just imagine smelly loud cane toads carpeting the homestead grounds, on an otherwise glorious desert evening… As over 1,700 Kununurra based registered Kimberley Toad Buster award acknowledged volunteer toad predators enjoy their THIRD YEAR of WEEKLY hunting and gathering cane toads over 200,000 sq kms as a way of life, they are working hard to save species (dependent on the Kimberley ecosystems, including the pygmy crocodile) from extinction from cane toad invasion. Cane toads poison fauna that eats it, pollute ecosystems and use up food resources. The KTBs have caught and killed nearly 200,000 adult cane toads and countless millions of tadpoles and metamorphs (over 65,000 kgs of cane toad biomass out of our already threatened precious NT eco-systems) with the help of private donations, Lotterywest and the federal (and more recently the WA state) government. As at December 2007, the KTB toadbusting comprised an estimated 448,128 volunteer field hours! (and including support and administration hours it is probably closer to 800,000 volunteer hours!) At $20 an hour, this equates to $16,000,000 (sixteen million dollars) volunteer work value. Be nice to see our NT, WA and federal governments put this much effort into keeping cane toads out of the Kimberley and away from our already threatened fauna! See KTBs at www.canetoads.com.au KTB MEDIA RELEASE 31 January 2008 (NB: See previous media releases at www.canetoads.com.au ) …For more information contact: Lee Scott Virtue: Founder&President KTBs based in Kununurra&Nicholson Station 9168 7393/9168 7080 Marlee and Franz Ranecher: Bullo River Station 9168 7375; http://www.anglingadventures.com.au/bullo.html Dr Adam Britton : Pygmy crocodile expert, Darwin, specialises in crocodile conservation; 61 (0)407 185182 Sandy Boulter : More photos, Media, Coordinator Perth based Friends of the KTBs: 0427 508 582 Army contact: Snr Enviro Manager Defence Support: Trish Gaff 08 8935 4679 (or Jamie Cord)
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