A heartfelt cry from the Kununurra Community to the Nation. We will Stop the Cane Toads getting into WA! |
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KIMBERLEY TOAD BUSTERS NEWSLETTER No. 26 03/12/2008 By Lee Scott-Virtue President & founder of the KTBs & Sandy Boulter Administrative Coordinator KTBs & coordinator & founder of Perth based Friends of Kimberly Toad Busters
The Cane Toad is a Key Threatening Process to the Australian Nation Declared by the Federal Government 12 April 2005 WE NEED A NATIONAL CANE TOAD THREAT ABATEMENT PLAN! KTBs NEED RESEARCH SPONSORS! This 26 th Newsletter is produced by Kimberley Specialists In Research Inc in conjunction with Kimberley Toad Buster Inc. Kimberley Specialists, a founding member of the Kimberley Toad Busters, continues to support the campaign against the cane toad by raising funds and supporting cane toad scientific research. KTBs are a tax deductible entity. Please see our website for direct donation facility. IF EVERYONE WAS A TOADBUSTER
kimberleytoadsbusters@canetoads.com.au A KTB Education Special Newsletter
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WHERE ARE THE CANE TOADS NOW? The rain is here. The toads have moved no closer than the 2 toads found by the KTBs, 18 kms from the WA/NT border in September 2008. The KTB volunteers have kept them at bay for over 2 months and pushed some of the major breeding areas back a bit. Toads have now moved onto Legune Homestead but it is suspected that the small incursion probably found its way across a narrow section of the Victoria River rather than from Bullo River Station. Legune Station staff are actively involved in the fight to stop the cane toads from gaining a foothold on their station. Toads are now slightly south of Amanbidgi (old Kildurk Station) in the West Baines River area, bringing toads closer to the Lake Argyle eastern water shed. Toads have also moved into upper reaches of the Wickham and Humbert River systems bringing them closer to the water shed of the Negri River. The present hard diligent toadbusting work will see whether or not the combined efforts of the KTBs and the small Department of Environment team have stalled the front line for another season. We will not know this until after the upcoming wet season, the waters recede and we will see whether or not we have held the toads back from the Kimberley for another year. If the toads do cross the border this wet season, they will do so through three of the six corridors KTB have identified and been tracking for over three years. Corridor One: (Legune Station/Keep River); Corridor Two: (Victoria Highway/Keep River); and Corridor Three: through the Stockade, Matilda and Hicks Creek systems into the Ord River and Lake Argyle – see KTB map in previous newsletter No. 25. How Many Cane Toads Caught by KTBs from the Front Line? 339,201 mature adults, which equals around 160,000 kgs of biomass out the invaded ecosystems.
Value of Education: Karratha Cane Toad Hitch Hiker Identified and Found How wonderful the WA community is on the ball and knows a cane toad when it sees one, or at least thinks to ask. Well done to the Karratha nursery, and community generally for being so on the ball. This shows why cane toad education is so critically important ahead of the cane toad front. Cane Toad Golfer The ABC report today of a cane toad surviving 6 days in a golf shoe, inadvertently packed in Brisbane and destined for the Albany golf course wetlands, is no surprise to the KTB volunteers who have come to know cane toads up close and personal after over three years of weekly toadbusting and over 500,000 volunteer hours in the field. Contrary to the collected wisdom about the inability of the cane toad to survive long without water, the KTBs have observed and know that cane toads can survive at least 3 weeks without water in a hot environment, and perhaps months when deeply buried in cracking clay soils. The hitchhiking cane toad is a threat and it is important for all West Australians to be on the lookout. The cooler climes of Albany might slow the cane toad but recent modelling of the possible cane toad habitat around Australia suggested cane toads can survive in all mainland capital cities of Australia. When it's cold they just hibernate and wait for it to warm up – but they are certainly easier to catch when they are cold, as the KTBs have found out in the NT desert when freezing conditions prevail at night. Toad Buster Outback Survival Training
KTBs Cane Toad Education Throughout WA KTB cane toad presentations are widely well received by schools, Rotary and Probus clubs, and community groups. The recent KTB education tour of the South West of WA will be repeated next year all around WA wherever there is interest in understanding the cane toad and we have the resources to visit you. The KTB schools education project support package should be updated in time for the 2009 school year. Just contact us on friendsktb@westnet.com.au to inquire about a cane toad presentation or schools support package for teachers. Junior Cane Toad Trap Designers From South Perth Primary School “Gadgets and Gizmos” Program Our KTB schools’ presentation program produces new questions, innovative thinking and great ideas. Here are some of them from South Perth Primary School in Perth: Trap Designed by Kimberley Claux
Catcher Designed by Thomas Goodheart
Boat Catcher Designed by Will Renner-Shao
Pinwheel Trap Designed by Callum France
Stages of a Cane Toad
DONOR LOGOS Have you donated services or goods to the Kimberley Toad Busters Cane Toad Campaign? Have you sent us your logo for display on our website and in our newsletters? If not, please email your logo to friendsktb@westnet.com.au ALL DONATIONS ARE TAX DEDUCTIBLE
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