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For the third year running, Council is focusing on reducing cane toad populations on the Tweed Coast with a suite of educational events and community toad busting initiatives.
Council has once again joined forces with not-for-profit community environment group Watergum to run the Tweed Toad Busters program, aimed at stopping the advance of cane toads on the Tweed Coast before they have a chance to breed and multiply.
The citizen science program runs from now until April 2023 and will target cane toads at every life stage, from tadpole trapping through to toad busting.
The first free event of the season will be held at the Kingscliff Community Hall on Wednesday 9 November from 6:30 pm to 8 pm (NSW time). This highly engaging event will teach the community about cane toads, their impacts, and effective techniques to reduce their numbers.
A special focus will be on the use of Watergum’s cane toad tadpole traps and lures, which can catch up to 4,000 tadpoles at a time.
Council’s project officer - wildlife protection Emily Clarke said the aim this year was to build on the momentum gained during last season.
“We know that when we work together we achieve greater results and our efforts will help to reduce our impact on the natural environment in the Tweed,” Ms Clarke said.
“The events are designed to be fun and easy for people to get involved in, with week-long toad busting challenges that include prizes and more convenient drop-off points so residents don’t have to keep the toads in their freezers.
“We are also launching a new educational video which will help novice toad busters identify and humanely rid cane toads from their properties.”
Watergum’s cane toad program began on the Gold Coast in 2018 and was brought to the Tweed in 2020. Last season, the program successfully engaged 174 community members and resulted in the removal of around 2,223 cane toads from the environment.
Watergum’s invasive species manager Emily Vincent said research showed regular and thorough toad busting activities were the most successful way to control cane toads.
“Each female cane toad can lay up to 70,000 eggs per year, so removing adults from the environment before they can breed can have a big impact on their breeding capacity,” Ms Vincent said.
“Cane toads are now well established in 4 Australian states including Queensland, NSW, the Northern Territory and Western Australia so it’s important the community bands together to find and eradicate this invasive pest.”
To register to attend the free cane toad trapping and information session at Kingscliff on Wednesday 9 November, and to watch the new educational video on this program, visit tweed.nsw.gov.au/cane-toads.
For more information, email canetoads@watergum.org or visit watergum.org/canetoads/.
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