Skip to player
Skip to main content
Skip to footer
Search
Connect
Watch fullscreen
Like
Comments
Bookmark
Share
Add to Playlist
Report
Volunteer ‘toad-busters’ join the hunt for cane toads in bid to protect native wildlife
ABC NEWS (Australia)
Follow
1/19/2025
Cane toads have been a fixture in northern Australia for much of the last 90 years. Across WA, the NT, and Queensland, volunteers are getting involved in protecting the native wildlife as the introduced species spreads across the continent.
Category
📺
TV
Transcript
Display full video transcript
00:00
Gloves on and buckets at the ready.
00:05
It's a humid evening at the Territory Wildlife Park outside of Darwin, but this trainload
00:10
of people aren't here for the native animals, they're looking for something else.
00:14
When it gets dark we'll go towards the, right on the water's edge, they often just sit.
00:21
Cane toads, the feral pest that's now an all too common sight right across northern Australia.
00:27
For Joel Mitchell and his family, cane toad hunts at the park have long been a family
00:32
favourite outing.
00:33
We love looking at critters, we love the top end, we love all the wild and wonderful creatures
00:39
at night time.
00:40
It's a whole different world at night.
00:41
This lagoon is swarming with baby toads at first, but when the sun sets...
00:46
Oh, there's one.
00:50
Once caught, the toads are counted and weighed and will be humanely disposed of.
00:55
We've been out for just under an hour now, we've caught a lot of little baby toads but
00:59
no real big ones, but even those little ones will grow up to be big toads, so we're removing
01:04
them from the park which will make a big difference.
01:07
Sometimes we get a lot and sometimes it's just, they're not around.
01:13
A quiet night for these toad busters, but a success nonetheless.
01:18
How many toads did you get tonight?
01:20
Just one.
01:21
Just one?
01:22
Yeah.
01:23
And it's a big one.
01:24
It's a big one, but also it's a good community night.
01:25
We get a few people from the local community out and just have a bit of fun and that kind
01:28
of thing.
01:29
Over the next week, hunts like this are scheduled across northern Australia as part of the Great
01:34
Cane Toad Bust, which is back for another year.
01:37
The aim of this is to educate Australians on the impacts of cane toads environmentally
01:42
as well as they impact domestic pets and agricultural industries.
01:45
Pushing back one toad at a time.
Recommended
0:24
|
Up next
Crystal Papali'i strip and score
The Canberra Times
3 days ago
0:39
Cane toad-break zone to stop notorious pest march in WA
Australian Community Media
7/17/2024
2:07
What to do when you find injured wildlife?
Australian Community Media
10/22/2024
4:17
Volunteers Work To Eradicate Invasive Amphibians To Protect Local Species
TaiwanPlus News
1/10/2025
1:00
Car strike is a top killer for native wildlife
Australian Community Media
10/22/2024
0:42
Critically endangered wombat spotted in Queensland
Australian Community Media
9/4/2024
2:48
Aussie Ark to release endangered eastern quolls on NSW South Coast
Bega District News
3/25/2024
1:49
First Tasmanian devil babies born on mainland Australia in 3,000 years
euronews (in English)
5/28/2021
4:32
Eastern Quolls Reintroduced to Australian Mainland After Decades
StoryfulNews
3/15/2018
0:30
Campaign to keep Australian wildlife from becoming roadkill
Australian Community Media
12/20/2022
2:11
Deer Stuck in a Fence & Stag Caught on a Rope
RightThisMinute
12/2/2015
1:00
Clive the rescue kangaroo | March 29, 2023 | Bendigo Advertiser
Bendigo Advertiser
3/29/2023
2:01
Meet the cattle breeders-turned-conservationists protecting Colombia's Amazon wildlife
euronews (in English)
6/17/2023
1:05
Wild Rehabber Rescues Great Horned Owlets
Jukin Media
4/23/2023
0:34
New Enclosures Built to Preserve and Breed Endangered Frog Species
StoryfulNews
2/21/2018
0:54
Record number of Australian threatened species
Australian Community Media
1/29/2024
1:11
Environmentalist lives in rainforest surrounded by feathered friends
ABC NEWS (Australia)
4/27/2025
0:58
Wild baby bison born in the UK for first time in thousands of years after surprise pregnancy
euronews (in English)
10/21/2022
1:40
'Toadzilla’: How is this record-breaking toad a threat to Australia’s ecosystem?
euronews (in English)
1/25/2023
0:35
Devil's in the detail as threatened species list grows
Australian Community Media
9/11/2024
7:19
21 native animals lost to extinction since 1960s
ABC NEWS (Australia)
11/8/2023
1:21
Expectations set for a record-breaking orange-bellied parrot migration as more captive-bred birds released
ABC NEWS (Australia)
3/10/2025
2:28
Mathew Akon, Papua New Guinea
GreenTV
2/21/2019
1:55
Innovative nest boxes saving animals at Two Thumbs Wildlife Trust
The Canberra Times
5/25/2023
1:51
Authorities renew efforts to combat invasive species
ABC NEWS (Australia)
4/23/2024