CANE toads are starting to realise that a Greenbank man’s dam is off limits.
“Champion toad buster” Michael Kruck has applied the skills learned from Springfield Lakes Nature Care Inc toad busting workshops to catch more than 47 toads and more than 500 toadlets within only two monthly sessions.
Springfield Lakes Nature and Care president Luise Manning said the lessons learned from the workshops could be applied practically.
“He is a champion toad buster, he alone manages to catch a lot,” she said,
“Mike has been regularly catching tadpoles from his property which has eight dams – a Herculean task.”
The most recent workshop on January 12 resulted in 239 adult cane toads and 25 small toads caught.
The workshops, held monthly until April, are led by ecologist Kay Montgomery to teach local residents how to humanely and safely dispose of canetoads.
Ms Manning said reducing cane toad numbers had positive ecological and environmental flow on effects.
“Cane toads are an ugly pest that harms and kills much of our native wildlife, namely birds, frogs and other reptiles such as snakes and lizards,” she said.
“Cane toads are toxic at every stage of their lifecycle...tadpoles and the small 1cm toadlets can be harmful if eaten by lizards, mammals and birds.”
People can learn important details from the workshops, including how to identify cane toads which are commonly mistaken as native or pobblebonk frogs.
The next workshop is set to be held at the Springfield Lake Parklands on the corner of Springfield Lakes boulevard and Burlington Terrace on February 9 at 7pm.
Gloves are supplied but people are required to bring their own torch, bucket, suitable clothing and closed in shoes.
The workshops were made possible through an Ipswich City Council grant.
All toad busters receive a Grill’d burger voucher for Orion Springfield Central.