Hunters turn out for Toad Day Out
Date published: 21 March 2016
Dedicated environmental hunters have once again put a dent in local cane toad populations during the annual Toad Day Out event on Sunday.
Around 120 people turned out for the official proceedings at Riverway yesterday’s weigh in with the biggest single animal a 350gram specimen collected by Daisy Sullivan at Bluewater.
Townsville City Council’s acting executive manager of Integrated Sustainable Services Chris Manning said entrants had to work extra hard this year to find toads because of the extended drought.
“Entrants, young and old, did a great job to collect so many toads considering that numbers have been down right across the Townsville area as a result of the extended dry seasons,” Mr Manning said.
“The response to the event was still very good considering the amount of other activities that were on over the weekend and there were some very impressive entries.”
Total weight of Toads overall: approx.. 92kg
Heaviest Toad: 350g – caught by Daisy Sullivan from Bluewater
Heaviest Total Under 8 cat.: Chloe Sullivan from Bluewater (approx. 8 kg)
Heaviest Total Over 8 cat.: Aiden Wust from Kelso (approx.. 23kg)
Most Toads by a family: Wust Family from Kelso (approx. 23kg) Sullivan family
from Bluewater a very close second at 22.5 kg
Total number of registrations: 34. (Approx. number of attendees was 120)
Collected toads were dispatched humanely and given to JCU and a local taxidermist.
Cane toads were introduced to Australia from Hawaii in 1935 to control cane beetles, but were ineffective. They have since spread out of control and are harmful to native wildlife.
Earth Hour:
Around 350 people turned out for the Townsville City Council’s Earth Hour event at the Rowes Bay Sustainability Centre on Saturday evening.
