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About us
The Cane Toad is a Key Threatening Process to the Australian Nation
Declared by the Federal Government 12 April 2005
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About us!
Kimberley Toad Busters (KTB) is a non-profit, tax deductible charitable volunteer organisation initiated and set up by Lee Scott-Virtue and Dean Goodgame. An outcome of a 2005 Cane Toad forum run by the Environmental Organisation Kimberley Specialists in Research, founders of this organisation, Lee Scott-Virtue and Dean Goodgame realised that when cane toads hit Kakadu National Park in 2003, it was inevitable that they would reach the Kimberley.
Little was understood about cane toad movement or their impact at either a direct or indirect level. This despite the fact that cane toads had been invading the areas of the North of Australia for close to 70 years.
While KTB volunteers, KTB sponsored research students from around the world have been able to add information on how colonising toads move, their expected rate of movement, their impact on vertebrate native biodiversity, much more research work needs to be undertaken to fully document cane toad impact on vertebrates. It has also become clear that little or no work has been undertaken on the impact of toads on invertebrate species, the building blocks of our native biodiversity.
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Sponsored research by KTB is indicating that this damage is much greater than scientists and government have even begun to consider. KTB continue to sponsor research at both the community level and at the scientific research level by sponsoring post graduate students from around the world to work with KTB on all issues dealing with the Cane Toad. KTB also have an outstanding Cane Toad Education Program that has now been adopted and added into the WA Education Department for Education Indigenous School Curriculum.
KTBs Objectives since 2005 have remained the same.
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Protect the biodiversity and natural habitats of the Kimberley from the cane toad;
Prevent/mitigate the impacts of cane toads entering Western Australia through the Kimberley region by on ground action organised and directed from Kununurra or as otherwise resolved by the Board;
Provide scientific research about cane toads and to set up a scientific database about cane toads;
Foster public awareness about the risks posed by the cane toad to the environmental, social and economic values of the Kimberley by research, education and publication;
Promote ideas and actions, which will enhance people’s understanding and enjoyment of, and willingness to protect the natural environment and landscape from cane toads;
Support the Kimberley Toad Buster volunteers by accepting donations and undertaking fundraising for their outgoing costs, safety equipment; and ensuring that adequate insurance cover is taken out by the volunteers but acknowledging that the Association must ensure that each volunteer is aware that she or he is responsible for ensuring that they are insured against injury and property damage incurred on any volunteer activities undertaken on behalf of the Association;
Acquiring, storing and keeping secure all equipment loaned, donated or purchased for the volunteer toad busting activities.
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Some brief Cane Toad ‘Facts’ & ‘Figures’.
KTB had a very interesting time recently looking at some of our toad busting totals, hours and $ input. The figures are very conservative and the hourly rate based on a mere $25 per hour and does not cover the enormous number of volunteer hours put into dealing with the general administration of KTB, ‘bureaucratic red tape’ (DEC permits), data collation and funding and award submissions.
• Approximately 2.4 million adult toads have now been taken out of the environment by KTB volunteers.
• This represents around 552 tonnes of biomass removed.
• KTB volunteers have put in approximately 240,540 hours toad busting and other associated activities.
• This represents around $6,013,500 in dollars contributed by community in the cane toad fight so far.
Based on the $1.2 million provided by the state government the $6,013,500 hours of volunteer work equates to more than a 400% return in monetary value for every dollar contributed by the government. An interesting question though is how do you measure, in dollars, the actual social, economic and environmental achievements of a volunteer group like KTB?
Interestingly enough, if the state government had put in the same amount of people and effort to achieve the same results as KTB, it would have cost the government conservatively around $15,635,100.
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