Thousands of toxic cane toads have been captured in Australia’s northeast so they can be converted into fertilizer for farmers, an organizer of the second annual round-up said Sunday.
Toad Day Out’s Lisa Ahrens said she was hopeful that 10,000 of the loathsome animals — the equivalent of one tonne of toads — had been captured and killed in the Queensland initiative.
“I’m hoping we did,” she told AFP from the northern city of Cairns.
The cane toad, which carries a poisonous sac of venom on the back of its head toxic enough to kill snakes and crocodiles, is regarded as a noxious pest in Australia because it wreaks havoc on the environment.
Ahrens said Australians had little time for the warty amphibian which is known to kill domesticated pets and had no problems collecting the animals so they could be killed humanely.
“They just take over anything. They are quite industrious,” she said of the toads. “They are an introduced species and they need to be out.”
Residents were asked to collect the toads, which come out at night, on Saturday evening and then place them inplastic bags in their refrigerators. They were then, still alive, assessed as cane toads by organisers on Sunday.
The toads were then killed humanely in freezers with their bodies to be used in the most part to create fertilizer for the cane farmers which have battled them for decades.
Australia is beset by millions of cane toads after they were introduced to control scarab beetles in the 1930s.(AFP)
第二屆年度蟾蜍圍補行動的主辦人上星期天表示，在澳洲東北部捕捉到了數千隻有毒的「蔗蟾」（即「海蟾蜍」），而牠們將被當成農夫的肥料。
在澳洲昆士蘭省發起「蟾蜍滾出去」活動的麗莎•艾倫斯表示，希望該活動捕捉並除掉一萬隻這種令人厭惡的動物──相當於一公噸的蟾蜍。
她在昆士蘭北部的開恩茲告訴法新社說，「希望目標已達成。」
海蟾蜍腦後的毒囊裝有毒液，毒性足以殺死蛇或鱷魚。牠們在澳洲被視為害蟲，因為會造成環境大浩劫。
艾倫斯說澳洲人不喜歡這種多疣的兩棲類動物，因為蟾蜍常毒死家裡的寵物，所以居民不介意捕捉並以人道的方式除掉牠們。
她還說，「海蟾蜍會侵犯任何生物且從不停懈。牠們是被引進的外來種，所以必須除掉。」
居民上星期六晚上被要求捕捉在夜間活動的蟾蜍們，把牠們裝入塑膠袋放進冰箱，主辦單位隔天會鑑定這些小生物是否為海蟾蜍。
之後海蟾蜍被放進冰庫仁道撲殺，身體的部分則做成肥料，分送給與牠們搏鬥數十年的蔗農們。
澳洲自一九三Ｏ年代引進海蟾蜍對付金龜子後，就受到數以百萬計的海蟾蜍所困擾。（法新社╱翻譯：張愛弟）
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