cane toads

Our courageous correspondent Michelle Tapper travelled to remote Kununurra, WA. Why? To go toad-catching.

Kununrra is the new frontline against the invasion which, if it is left unchecked, will wipe out many kinds of native Australian wildlife.

At greatest risk are blue tongue lizards, quolls and goannas.

New tours are run by a mother-and-son featuring Ben Scott-Virtue and Le, an archaeologist.

There's no bashing that goes on - this tour is about helping science find the perfect weapons for the cane toad plague which began in Queensland when they were deliberately introduced from Hawaii to Australia in 1935.

The toads from these tours are taken away in bags and then examined by scientists examine before they’re exterminated using gas.

The tours are run nightly but are only slowing the march of the toads, not stopping them.

There is hope on the horizon for stopping the movement and devastation of the cane toad.

The answer to stopping them is most likely to come from a parasite like the lung worm, which is already in Australia.

Luckily, the lung worm parasite kills toads but doesn’t harm native animals.

Find out more about the new plan to eradicate cane toads.

http://www.canetoads.com.au/