76,597 breeding and potential breeding toads ‘busted’ & tens of thousands of eggs, tadpoles and juveniles now taken out of the system by KTB volunteers.

CANE TOAD BUSTING BENEFITS

The KTB campaign is uniting the indigenous and non-indigenous communities of Kununurra as never before. Between 20% - 25% of the Kununurra community are signed up as KTB supporters and/or toadbusters to care for country by keeping the cane toad at bay in the Northern Territory.

As well as slowing the cane toad advance into Western Australia and undertaking a unique record and examination of a cane toad colonising front, the KTB toadbusting campaign is having a profound positive impact on the social fabric of Kununurra especially with the young aboriginal cane toad warriors, the remote aboriginal communities outlying Kununurra, the Wyndham prisoner camp inmates many of whom are aboriginal, TAFE and the CDEP cane toad program. Cane toad training and busting engages aboriginal adults and children, even those at risk. The KTB campaign has just won two WA State awards for community involvement in a campaign.

The KTB education campaign is ensuring that the Kununurra community is well prepared to recognise cane toad hitchhikers and report cane toad finds. The KTB encourages active liaison with scientists undertaking research into cane toad eradication. The KTB campaign is promoting eco-tourism, saving biodiversity and protecting unique ecosystems from dead animals killed by toads, thereby by preserving the health of popular tourist sites. KTBs are also exploring innovative engineering trap and fence solutions. KTBs publish all their results and information for the world to see on their website at www.canetoads.com.au .

T oads - Where are they!

The combinations of:

has meant that collectively, groups working east from Kununurra at the cane toad frontline in the NT have established a comprehensive data base on cane toad colonising behavior. Wet season field work has enabled KTB’s to determine where toads are presently established and also to pinpoint future high risk areas that will need to be monitored during this coming wet season.

The earlier 2005/6 wet season field work by KTB’s also established that two major access corridors were being used by toads to access the Auvergne and Victoria River Downs Stations, facilitating a major colonising and breeding situation. Bradshaw Military Base controlled by the federal government is one such corridor, which enables the toads to move south across the Victoria River onto Auvergne Station. A similar situation exists on Victoria River Downs station where toads have moved west through a corridor located to the east of Moolooloo Station’s Battle Creek upper catchment area. The two year toad build-up of breeding toads in these corridors is mirror imaged on both Bradshaw and the Battle Creek upper water catchment areas, with the unusual 2005/6 wet season providing the perfect opportunity for massive numbers of toads to hit both stations in March /April 2006.

Both stations also have toads moving along the Victoria River corridor, bringing waves of toads west onto Auvergne , and east and south onto Victoria River Downs Station. The consistent toad busting shared during the 2005/6 wet season by the KTB and the DEC teams almost certainly reduced the numbers of toads moving along the Victoria River corridor with the bulk of the new colonising frontline movement probably coming through the other two identified corridors.

It is going to be crucial that some management of toads on Bradshaw Military base (preferably by the army) and to the east of the Victoria River Downs station is undertaken during the next dry season or numbers will continue to build-up, and then merely have to wait for another similar wet season as experienced in 2005/6.

The KTBs will continue to work on reducing breeding populations of cane toads back to the Victoria River Road House in an attempt to mitigate the impact and numbers of the successive waves of colonising toads.

The KTBs will also continue to monitor and ‘bust’, as well as trap any area showing toad infestation east from Timber Creek to the Victoria River Road House, and south along the Buchanan Road to VRD.

Auvergne Station

As a result of the unexpected 2005/6 wet season, toads are established on Auvergne station between the Victoria River Road and the Victoria River , with some colonising incursions south along the Sandy , Pear Tree and Alpha Creek systems just west of Timber Creek. They are also established in a small section west of the Baines River near the junction of the Victoria River . An unknown area of Bradshaw Military Base is now infestated with toads and sadly is almost certainly a major corridor for toads moving south across the Victoria River onto Auvergne Station. The potential for this corridor to push toads onto Bullo River Station in this upcoming wet season is unknown. Field reconnaissance undertaken during the dry season by the KTBs and DEC has confirmed that no toads have yet reached Bullo Station. This reconnaissance will be continued by KTBs through the wet season now upon us.

Dry season work by the DEC toad team in the area located west of the Baines River has ensured that the risk of major breeding for this wet season has been minimised and probably controlled. Similarly, major reconnaissance and actual ‘busting’ by the KTBs west of Timber Creek and south of the Victoria Highway has ensured that potential wet season breeding has been minimised. KTBs will continue to bust all these areas though out the wet season to minimise and control further south west movement.

The Perth based organisation STTF spent 6 weeks working on several toad infested lagoons located within the discrete area of Whirlwind Plain, east of the main colonising incursion front being worked by DEC, and north of the southern most toad incursion front being dealt with by the KTBs. Unfortunately, the anxiously awaited field report on their final results and how many of the lagoons were actually ‘busted’ is not yet published to the KTBs or DEC. However, if the bulk of the main breeding colonies in this area were ‘busted’ by this team then continued monitoring and toad busting of Whirlwind Plain and the wider areas of Auvergne Station by the KTB and the DEC teams over the wet season now upon us should ensure that re-colonising numbers are minimised .

Victoria River Downs Station

Toads are now firmly established on Victoria River Downs Station. The Battle Creek system sent thousands of toads on the corridor west and south west onto Victoria River Downs. While the major colonisation breeding areas were located still east of the Victoria River , some front line colonising toads were found west and south west of the major breeding areas. This bought the toads dangerously close to the Wicham and Humber Rivers , which would have then to fed these toads into the upper catchment area of our beloved Ord River and Lake Argyle .

The KTBs have spent most of the dry season sending in large numbers of teams to ‘bust’ the main colonising breeding areas (our main reconnaissance team led by Dave Woods spent several weeks establishing the toad situation on VRD) and to take out the forward frontline colonising mature toads before they bred.

While it is not a ‘certainty’, the KTBs are fairly confident that the VRD toad situation is under control, that the main colonising breeding areas have been ‘busted’ and that all main ‘front-line’ colonising toads have been largely identified and ‘busted’. (The KTBs busted over 33,000 toads from one dam on VRD, which now appears devoid of toads).

While the VRD area will be difficult to access during the wet season, the KTBs will continue to monitor and ‘bust’ this area over the wet season and to establish any new forward moving incursions.

East of Timber Creek and Victoria River Road House

The KTBs have continued to ‘bust’ and trap toads in all designated toad threat areas behind the lines to ensure that there is no build-up of toads. Without a doubt the impact of toad busting in all these areas has seen reductions in toad numbers, much to the relief of the managers of the VRR campground who are great KTB supporters. Although toads still being picked up they are largely immature toads. This indicates that while we bust, we delay further breeding over this wet season. It is also evident that by continuing to bust consecutive generations of toads in these areas, we can delay further colonising attempts for several years. Continuing to pick up any mature toads attempting to‘re-colonise’ a busted area will almost certainly have a long-term impact on toad numbers for each of the areas in which the KTBs work.

KTBs are confident that the 15 months field efforts undertaken by the volunteer KTBs and DEC, and their ongoing assessment of the cane toad situation, has kept the cane toad out of WA to date, and at worst has at least delayed their entry into WA and mitigated their impact at the present colonising front.

Cane Toad Frontline:

What does this mean? Where is it?

A combined wet and dry season consistent toad busting activity by KTBs over 15 months has revealed that the toads have moved west, south-west and north-west along at least 3 identified corridors facilitated by the wetter than expected 2005/2006 wet season. That excessive amount of water meant that toads ‘moved’ more quickly and along greater distances then ever before recorded. (Is this because there is no other comparative data available on the ‘frontline’ movement of toads? And if this is the case, then it is more imperative than ever that the field work currently being undertaken by KTBs and DEC continue and scientists are funded to join us).

The field work at the cane toad front has also revealed that a designated ‘front-line’ is far more complex than is currently described in the general literature or described by some cane toad “experts”. The KTBs are only just beginning to determine the complex nature of a ‘front-line’ and to determine the factors that seem to create this complexity. Our busting strategies are constantly adapting to our increasing number of field observations. However, it is clear to the KTBs at this point, that if we are to have any luck in holding back the toad tide and have some impact on disrupting the forward movement of cane toads, we need to understand the complex behavior of ‘front-line’ breeding toads.

Several models present themselves as a result of the KTB field work. (These models have been established by the volunteers to encourage postgraduate scientific research projects):

Are Toads really our Friends?

KTBs are concerned about the recent spate of articles and media releases suggesting that:

Toads do not have as much impact on our native biodiversity as was originally thought; and Native populations of some species ‘re-establish’ after a certain time period.

This reminds us of what the proponents of the dangers of Global Warming had to deal with when the skeptics moved in to downplay the growing body of scientific opinion and anecdotal evidence supporting the theory of global warming. It also reminds us of the ‘misconception campaign’ undertaken by cigarette companies to counter argue the growing body of scientific information informing people of the ‘real’ dangers of smoking.

It seems that suddenly, despite the growing body of information on the numbers of native animals and birds being recorded as victims of the cane toad, a ‘disinformation and misconception’ campaign now appears to be the next campaign in place to downplay the impact of the cane toad and the necessity for funds to be directed to our campaign.

The wake-up call was supposed to have been the very real and devastating impact of the toad in Kakadu National Park? How many more stories do we need to receive from Aboriginal people, station owners, tour operators (and countless others) and organisations such as the KTBs and DEC recording the carnage and witnessing the impact of unchecked colonising fronts that have systematically moved across northern Australia over the past 71 years?

Al Gore, in his publication, “An Inconvenient Truth” recites a memo from Brown and Williamson Tobacco Company (ibid: 285): “Doubt is our produce, since it is the best means of competing with the ‘body of fact’ that exists in the mind of the general public. It is also the means of establishing a controversy”.

Whatever the motive behind this recent campaign of putting doubt into peoples’ minds about the seriousness of the impact of the cane toad, we cannot allow it to grow.

All Australians have a moral commitment to do what we can to diminish the impact of the cane toad on each and every member our native Australian biodiversity. We also have an environmental obligation to continue to work towards ‘holding’ back and mitigating the impacts of this feral tide, and in finding biological or genetic eradication of the cane toad to stop the further devastation of our unique and precious native biodiversity, already under enough threat from bad management and global warming.

Why is wet season toad busting so important?

This will be the second wet season of the KTB toadbusters’ campaign, the end of which will see the achievement of two years of continuous toadbusting.

Wet season toad busting is absolutely critical because: 

1)    It enables us to track and pinpoint the toads as they move along flooded waterways, road systems and various connecting wetland systems, providing information on just how far the toads can and are moving during the wet season.

2)  It provides an early opportunity to put in place a dry season strategy that deals with the latest toad incursions into new areas.   

3)   It provides a window of opportunity to study where toads are colonising and breeding, as well as determining where the furthest 'toad incursions' have extended to, and why.

4)   It provides the best opportunity to 'bust' cane toad eggs, tadpole and metamorph populations that are predominantly laid during the wet season (dry season toad busting is only about 'busting' mature toads and successive generations that have matured through the wet season and are now isolated to permanent waterholes).

5)  It provides an opportunity to have an adverse impact on the cane toad cycle of eggs and tadpoles thus slowing down (and perhaps stopping) the breeding of subsequent populations of cane toads in a given area.

6)  It provides an opportunity to slow down and even stop the colonisation and breeding of cane toads in permanent waterholes (in turn slowing down the number of colonising mature toads waiting in permanent waterholes to breed for the next wet season). 

7)  It provides, potentially, the answer to slowing if not stopping, the advance of the cane toad front.

8)  It provides an opportunity for research scientists to study cane toad behaviour that may provide an answer to stopping or interfering with the forward movement of the front line.  

Wet Season Trapping Strategy!

It was well into the dry season before KTBs were able to decide on a trapping strategy that worked best and it became quite clear to KTBs that wet season trapping was a very different ‘kettle of fish’ to any trapping strategy devised for the dry season. Abundantly clear also was the obvious fact that ‘trapping’ was better ‘optimized’ during the wet and that dry season trapping was more designed as a ‘back-up’ to physically picking up toad that had already been ‘isolated’ to rapidly drying up waterholes. Research by KTB’s into the ‘need’ for traps in the field indicate that this form of toad control is imperative but it is still at least another ‘wet’ season of work in the field before KTBs have a clear picture of the best way to utilize optimum trapping, particularly at the cane toad ‘front line’. In the meantime we will continue to place traps in the field and monitor their progress and success.

 KTBs joined by MP Carol Martin’s associate, Leslie Morris.

Leslie not only ‘presented’ for one weekend toad bust but actually found the energy to tackle a second bust just before she had to fly back to Broome. Without such ‘morale boosting’ and Kimberley community support, the KTBs would not be sustainable for the long term.

Right Honourable Barry Haase (Local Federal MP) joins the KTBs on his first 'toad bust'.

While Lee Scott-Virtue was not present at the weekend toad bust that Barry Haase joined, we have heard wonderful reports about his involvement (and the fact that he cooked a bush stew to die for) in the general (and often exhausting) toad busting activities designated for that weekend. The usual ‘dramas’ associated with trying to integrate adolescent toadbusters, individual and autonomous KTB groups, and around 40 people on one toad bust evolved into a most successful toadbust. We are told that Barry took everything in his stride, including our infamous Sister Del Collins presenting a formidable ‘lecture’ to some of our adolescent toad busters on the negatives of ‘underage’ drinking/smoking/other activities while toadbusting. A further ‘major’ outburst from Del (apparently barely raised an eyebrow from Barry) set the pace for the nights’ busting, after the accidental attempt of a couple of our more energetic ‘youngsters’ set off a potential cattle ‘stampede’ were thwarted. Fortunately Del (ever on the alert and caring of station protocol) saved the day (but in a very loud voice). I am told that even Barry was very careful around our infamous Del (one of our very special volunteer toad busters). Thank you Barry for caring enough to come on one of our toad bust and thank you yet again to Sister Del Collins.

Kimberley Toad Busters have taken out several awards both at an environmental and community achievement level  

 Bob Cooper to run Toad Busting Bush Skills and Survival Courses in April 2007!

 Cost: $55 per person ( a good sponsorship in the making here for corporate sponsor now we have tax deductible status!)  

Basic three day courses – in Kununurra – Friday Sat and Sun

KNX 8 on 30 th, 31 st March and 1 st April

KNX 9 on 13 th, 14 th and 15 th April  

Subjects covered: Compass Navigation, Stellar and solar direction finding, First aid treatment for local bites and stings, Emergency signals and procedures, Safety equipment and protective clothing, Awareness of Buffaloes, cattle and crocodiles, Identify toxic vegetation, Action if stranded, Responsibilities as a “Toad Buster” in the “Buddy System”.

Length and Location: Late afternoon till 9.30pm in bush location close to KNX

Method: Demonstrations and group discussions followed by practical ‘hands on” training, individuals tested in small groups for proficiency.

Certification: Successful participants receive a certificate of accomplishment allowing them to then be safely involved in field work.

Resources provided: Qualified bush survival instructor, hand outs and all training aids.  

Group size: Twenty participants

Half Day Induction Safety Courses: Will also be run during the month of April. All dates and general information will be loaded onto the Kimberley Toad Busters website www.canetoads.com.au by the 15 th January 2007. Bookings for various courses will close end of February so book in early so you don’t miss out. Ring Lee on 91682576 or email kimberleytoadbusters@canetoads.net.au

Kimberley Toad Busters to the Rescue!

Kimberley Toad Busters play many roles when they are out in the field. Toad busting is only one of them. Last weekends’ toad bust saw the team led by Sharon MacLachlan and Lee Scott-Virtue spend some time ‘rescuing’ a distressed and injured ‘Pink and Gray’ from a ‘burning’ bitumen highway. After some gentle TLC, cold water and much soothing our victim allowed itself to be wrapped up in a towel and held by Sydney volunteer, Roger West for the duration of the 150 kilometers trip to Kununurra into the caring arms of Kimberley Wildlife Rescue and toad buster team member, Desanka (famous for her crocodile autopsies).

In the past 17 months, volunteer KTBs have, ‘retrieved’ and helped many injured and stressed animals. The’ icing on the cake’ would have to be taken by the toad busting crew (unnamed by request!) who spent ‘several hours’ heaving and ‘pushing’ a very pregnant and distressed Brahma cow back onto her feet. Mmmm! Needless to say this particular crew caught the lowest number of toads in the 17 month history of Kimberley Toad Busting. Not sure if the station owners (or the ‘mother to be’) really understood why anyone would bother to do this. On the serious side, a number of birds and animals owe their lives to the dedication of KTB volunteers and to our Vice President and veterinarian, Sarah Brett from Kimberley Wildlife Rescue.

 Cane Toad Trap Building 

The initiation of the trap making through the TAFE program was an initiative of Kimberley Specialists Inc and Kimberley Toad Busters Inc. Sourcing funding for trap components and the strategy for placement of traps in the field continues to be managed by KTBs.  

Report by KTB Board Member Chris Spur:

Kimberley TAFE has begun building cane toad traps again as part of the Kimberley Toad Busters Inc. field trapping strategy. This follows on from the successful trap building program from the end of last year, and earlier this year.

This time round, traps have so far been built by Certificate I students in Conservation & Land Management and as of 18 th September 2006 by the Wyndham Work Camp crew. This trap building crew will continue trap building indefinitely.

The traps follow the specifications developed by the Kimberley Toad Busters. The materials for the traps have been donated to the Kimberley Toad Busters Inc by Biodiversity Protection WA Inc and Triple J Tours.

Appropriate Technology

Argyle Diamond Mine pre-apprentices, as part of their TAFE training helped build a new trap making apparatus designed by TAFE Metalliferous lecturer, Mark Pedretti. This simple piece of equipment will enable traps to be shaped without the need for power tools, thus enabling communities or individuals anywhere and anytime to put the traps together.

The apparatus built at TAFE for constructing traps without the need for power tools. A template is used to cut the wire with bolt cutters then the wire is placed on the apparatus (left) and bent into shape using human force (right).

Experimental Design

New designs and ideas are constantly being tested in the workshop and field with regard the traps, materials, electrical componentry and doors. This testing then allows us to refine our basic Kimberley Toad Buster Inc. endorsed trap model.

A recently discovered issue has been the fondness of cattle for the electrical wiring for the solar panels and batteries on the traps. They appear to like the taste of the plastic covering on the wires.

We played around in the workshop by trying to enclose the wiring within the traps. This was deemed time consuming, difficult to maintain in the field and most importantly limited the options for placement of traps due to the change in design and shortened length of exposed cables. A solution trialled in the field by my Cert I students in Conservation & Land Management was to simply cut 19mm garden polypipe and place over the wiring . This did not restrict the movement and placement of traps and to date appears to be working.

Trapping Strategy

According to the Department of Environment and Conservation (formerly CALM), traps appear to catch 1 toad for every 10 toads caught by busting. Therefore, it is important that traps be used as a tool to monitor areas for toad activity, toad populations and as a method of capture in areas where access on a regular basis is more difficult.

Traps at present have been placed by the Kimberley Toad Busters in areas of high population densities, areas where we want to monitor for toad activity and areas that are difficult to access regularly. Traps have also been taken by Aboriginal communities for monitoring purposes.

Possibly the most important aspect of the cane toad traps are that they are a symbol of the battle that we are undertaking to prevent the toad from entering the Kimberley. The traps help raise the profile of the cane toad issue simply by their presence.

If you have any questions regarding cane toad trap building or the Kimberley Toad Busters Inc. trapping strategy please contact Chris Spurr at Kununurra TAFE.

Wyndham Work Camp Traps .

(A KTB and Kununurra TAFE initiative)  

The KTBs were approached by the Perth Department of Corrective Services to see how they could establish involvement of the Wyndham Camp in-mates in the Kimberley Toad Busting program. As KTB toad busting was currently being undertaken outside of WA, discussions were held to decide how the Wyndham Work Camp could become involved. The KTBs then approached a Kununurra TAFE representative (also a KTB member) and suggested that KTBs could access more funding to extend the trap making at the Wyndham Work Camp.

The rest is the remarkable history of the growing KTB campaign.

On an even brighter note is that discussions are currently being held initiated by the KTB to include a Bob Cooper Bush Survival and skills course as well as establishing a program. This will enable the Wyndham Work Camp to undertake field biodiversity recording projects and to put in place a trapping program that will see traps established in ‘potentially’ cane toad threatened areas within the Kimberley, and undertake crucial monitoring and reconnaissance of these sites.  

KTB points from the Wyndham Work Camp report by Mark Pedretti

 Wyndham Work Camp trap making highly successful.

90 traps have been constructed.

Some concern had been expressed by KTB’s about the quality and ‘workability’ of earlier trap design.

Under the guidance of Mark Pedretti, the Wyndham Work Camp in-mates coordinated the changed the design to:

Due to the amazing success of the initial trap making program undertaken by the Wyndham Work Camp, Superintendent Rodney Wovodich ( Brolga) and the wardens are keen for this program to continue. The KTBs are currently putting in place a field monitoring and trapping strategy throughout the East Kimberley and it is hoped that the Wyndham Work Camp will be actively involved in this program. This will include Wyndham Camp workers being involved in monitoring potentially threatened ecosystems and native wildlife, and to do more and have the capacity to move out into field around their area. They are more than happy to do this along KTB guide lines that include Spot checks, information checklists and setting early detection strategies.

Calling for interested volunteers!

Several functioning subgroups have been formed under the umbrella of Kimberley Toad Busters. We are looking for people (from Kununurra and beyond) to join whichever group sparks their interest. The more volunteers we have to assist with the workload of our leaders (who are all volunteers as are all our toadbusters) who manage each individual group the more efficient and sustainable the focus will be. Look on our website or ring Lee on 9168 2576 for more information and contact numbers for the leaders running each group.

Leader: Ade Meredith (scientific liaison, communication and administration) and Sandy Boulter, (collating data from all volunteer field and trapping groups, liaising with universities/research group)

Leader: Chris Spurr (TAFE KTB trap making, TAFE KTB cane toad ranger course)

Leader: Del Collins (Lions, CALM volunteer group)

Leader: Lee Scott-Virtue (Coordinate all groups’ trapping location and activities on basis of previous weeks trapping results, weekly debrief of all groups results with CALM, constant updating of field strategies, KSIR and KSIT liaison)

Leaders: Sarah Brett, Kununurra, Wyndham, Turkey Creek and Halls Creek, Sandy Boulter, Perth and south west Country. Ronnie Atkins and Chris Spur Aboriginal education of outlying communities about cane toads, ranger training program.

Leader: Dean Goodgame (IT, website, store and distribute equipment and transport for all groups at front)

Leader: Del Collins (Liaise with Kimberley Vet Centre, volunteer safety)

Leaders: Sandra Boulter & Lee Scott-Virtue

Leader: Dave Woods (Field trapping, data reports, GPS maps)

Sharon McLachlan SWEK Building Inspector and KTB Board Member.

Leaders: Georgina Wilson and Marianne Winton, 

Coordinator: Sandy Boulter (legal, education, media, grant application, volunteer coordinator)

If you would like to contribute financially by a tax deductible donation to our fight against the advance of the cane toad into Western Australia ,

Please send a cheque or money order payable to Kimberley Toadbusters Inc. to

Kimberley Toadbusters Inc. P.O. Box 1188
Kununurra
Western Australia 6743

or pay directly into the Kimberley Toad Busters Inc account Kimberley Toad Busters Account: 086 787 59958 1090 National Bank, Kununurra , WA . (please email or post details of this donation so we can send you a receipt or at best a letter of thanks).

A receipt and certificate of thanks will then be forwarded to you to within 7 working days on banking.

Or for information on how you can help,
email: kimberleytoadbusters@canetoads.com.au
or phone
Lee Scott-Virtue or Dean Goodgame on 08 91682576 or Sarah Brett 0407 691229

Or contact the Perth based
'Friends of the Kimberley Toad Busters' on Friendsktb@westnet.com.au or phone 0427 508 582
to see how you can best help the 'real' battle in the field at the front to 'stop the cane toad from crossing into Western Australia '.

Christmas and New Year Toad Busting!!

Kimberley Toad Buster Leaders Dean Goodgame, Del Collins and Lee Scott-Virtue will lead teams into the field from the 24 th December through until the 2 nd January. Base camps will be established at Timber Creek and the Victoria River Road House. Team members will travel from there as determined by our field Coordinators. Anyone wishing to join this dedicated group and share an unusual (and environmentally different) transition into 2007: Please ring Lee on 91682576.

IF EVERYONE BECAME A TOAD BUSTER

THE TOADS WOULD BE BUSTED!

www.canetoads.com.au

kimberleyspecialists@westnet.com.au

Lee or Dean on 91682576

Or contact Sarah Brett 0407691229