In late January 2022, Boonah and District Landcare (BaDL) did its bit in the inaugural Cane Toad Bust. This community effort was organised by Watergum, a not-for-profit organisation that collected toad capture data from groups located up and down the east coast.
The event aimed to capture as many adult cane toads as we could in just one week and humanely get rid of them. After capture, the toads were refrigerated for about 24 hours before being frozen, the most humane way of killing them. Toad capture (and humane despatch) can be carried out any time adult toads are about, not just when the Toad Bust – just remember to submit your data to Watergum.
BaDL recruited 31 family and community groups who collected 9,468 adult toads between them over the week of the Cane Toad Bust. This was a fantastic effort and one we hope to repeat in 2023, 2024 and so on…
It’s unlikely cane toads will ever be completely gone from the Australian environment, but with repeated community efforts, we can undoubtedly reduce their impact on the environment.
Anecdotal evidence in the Boonah area suggests that the highly successful busting we did and continue to do has already significantly dented the toad populations around the district.
