The Cane Toad Front Line up-date.

Frontline Update 29 th of January 2008

Cane Toads continue their westerly migration and have now reached Fish Creek on Newry Station. Three male toads were found on the 27 th of January around Fish Creek culvert on the Victoria Highway. By road this is fifty three kilometres from the NT/WA border. In a Straight line it is only forty kilometres. A turkey’s nest/dam roughly five kilometres back to the east was also busted on the same night. Thirty two toads were removed from this location, all male. Another fifteen kilometres to the east at the Saddle Creek area, the male and female toad population is beginning to increase steadily. We are doing our best to reduce their numbers over this wet season, which will help keep breeding to minimum in this frontline area.

Along the Upper West Baines River toads are moving in a Southerly Direction towards the Aboriginal community of Amanbidgi. Male toads have reached Police Hole Yard, which is twenty five kilometres south of the Victoria Highway. They are still only in small numbers at present, but as there are several large dams in this location, it is perfect toad habitat. It will be high on Kimberley Toad Busters priority list when weather permits access over the coming months.

A fierce battle is being fought on Bullo River Station on the lower part of the Victoria River. Both Kimberley Toad Busters and DEC Teams have been working in this area removing adult toads and minimising the numbers of metamorphs by way of spraying with a dettol solution from battery powered spray packs. The owner/managers of this station are supporting us in our fight as they too are keen to keep the toad population as low as possible on their property.

Although access into more remote areas through the wet season is limited, we keep on doing our best slowing down the toad’s westerly movement, as best we can this time of year. We are presently removing as many eggs, tadpoles and metamorphs from the areas we can reach to keep their breeding success rate as low as possible. The highway area naturally becomes our priority this time of the year not just because of accessibility, but also because the cane toad can migrate quicker in this area than anywhere else this time of the year.

Update by Dave Woods

 

  Frontline Update 

 

            Victoria Highway Area;  Toads are as far west as Saddle Creek but still in very small numbers to date. This is the eastern boundary of Newry Station. Tracks of a very large female around 17cm were found 5 km west of Saddle Creek parking Bay. This places this female approximately 10km in front of the male colonizing front.  The front is now roughly 68 km from the NT/WA Border from Saddle Ck. KTBs will be focusing a lot of energy in this area over this wet season.  

            Bullo River Station; Toads are building up in strong numbers in the vicinity of the Homestead and what is known as the Homestead Ck Area. Breeding has occurred in this area recently. Teams will be dropped in by helicopter over the wet to continue spraying any new breeding. The DEC team is also going to focus their teams in this general area. Of This area will need to be busted throughout the wet when ever access is possible.

 

             Upper West Baines River ; Toads have been found in small numbers upstream on West Baines River  towards Blackfellow Ck. It is roughly twenty kilometres from the Victoria Highway . Toads are moving in a southerly direction in this area. At present numbers are still fairly low and these areas will need to be monitored over the wet (access difficult) and hit fairly hard next dry season.

 

              Bullita Area; Toads are present in this area and are making their way South towards the upper reaches of the Humbert River Wet season toad busting is difficult so it will be critical for KTBs to hit this area hard early on in the dry season.  

               Humbert River Station (Lingara); Last wet season the toads managed to get a few kilometres upstream from the homestead on the Humbert   River . They were also found in Peters Ck to the southwest. Numbers are still fairly low but wet season access is difficult so this area will need to be hit hard early in the dry.

 

              Wickham River Area; toads are present in the River upstream to the Johnston Billabong area. The significant busting in the area to the north east the previous dry season worked wonderfully as toads only migrated around twenty kilometres. This is opposed to the fifty plus kilometres they can travel over one wet season.

 

               Upper Victoria River ; Toads still remain to the north of Pigeon Hole homestead. Larger numbers of toads are found on the eastern side of the Victoria River in this area. There are significantly less toads on the western side of the Victoria River until arriving at the Wickham River area.