Campaign To Save Island’s Toads (Jersey Island, U.K.)

Campaign To Save Island’s Toads (Jersey Island, U.K.)
BBC 2/22/07

A campaign has been launched to save Jersey’s indigenous toad.
The crapaud is believed to have disappeared from Guernsey, and the population is also falling in Jersey.

A study has found that high nitrate levels in ponds because of intensive agriculture have forced toad populations to the edges of the island.

Toad Watch campaigners are urging residents to make their gardens more toad-friendly by adding ponds. They say islanders can help boost numbers.

The ponds should be kept free of exotic fish and chemicals to increase the chances of toad spawn surviving.

The toads were once a familiar sight inland.

A three-year study into crapauds has found most in the south east, south west and near town.

Amphibian conservationist John Wilkinson is leading the study, which is due to be completed in 2008.

Beer Bounty For Cane Toads.

Beer Bounty For Cane Toads
By Peter Michael, February 26, 2007

Tom Hedley, Australia’s Biggest Private Hotel Owner And One Of Queensland’s Richest Men, Has Thrown His Support Behind Plans To Introduce A Beer-For-A-Bag-Of-Toads Bounty. KEN Ritchie Never Thought He’d See The Day A Cane Toad Would Be Worth Its Weight In Beer, Let Alone Two.
“Hell, I’ll give them two beers,” said Mr Hedley, who also owns and drinks at his favourite watering hole the Red Beret.

Latest estimates are that there are between 100 and 200 million cane toads in Australia, which means at the standard Queensland “pot” glass size of 285mls, it would take 57 million litres of free beer to wipe out pest – at two toads a bag. But Mr Hedley thinks it will be money well spent.

“As far as I am concerned they’re pests and a nuisance to society,” said Mr Hedley.
“If offering a beer for a bag of toads is one way to wipe them out once and for all then I am all for it,” he said.
The RSPCA welcomed the multi-millionaire’s backing, saying the proposal could be modelled on a similar beer-for-a-toad bounty run in the Northern Territory.
“How it worked in Darwin is they brought in the toads to the RSPCA to be humanely euthanised and they were then issued a voucher to get a beer – with a daily limit on the number of beers,” said RSPCA spokesman Michael Beatty.
“It could be more than a gimmick. It could seriously help reduce the toad population, especially around suburbia,” he said.