These sausages, known as ‘wart wurst’, are created from toad legs and contain chemicals that induce nausea. The goal was to train native wildlife, such as quolls, to avoid eating the toxic amphibians.Key Points:
- Cane toads are rapidly spreading, now being only 150 kilometers away from Broome.The sausages were hoped to deter wildlife from consuming the invasive toads.Despite the efforts, there are growing concerns about the effectiveness of this strategy.
The sausages were designed to teach wildlife not to eat the toads before the main invasion wave hits them. However, with the toads advancing rapidly, doubts have arisen about the effectiveness of this aerial sausage strategy. Some conservation groups in the Kimberley have even halted the taste aversion experiment, suggesting that resources should be directed towards other measures.Cane toads release a toxic substance when threatened, which can be fatal to several native animals, including northern quolls and the yellow-spotted monitor. Efforts to prevent the toads from spreading further have been challenging, leading to a focus on mitigation strategies. One such strategy is conditioned taste aversion (CTA), which has been researched for over a decade.However, a recent study on the effectiveness of the sausages in a wild setting revealed surprising results. In areas where the sausages were deployed, quoll populations declined by 94%, compared to a 65% decline in control areas. This has raised questions about the current approach and its viability for conserving quoll populations.Despite the challenges with quolls, research into CTA for reptiles continues to show promise. Efforts are ongoing to train lizards and freshwater crocodiles to avoid the toads. The results of these efforts could have implications for other regions, such as the Pilbara, which is at risk of a cane toad invasion.
There are also discussions about establishing a “toad containment zone” by upgrading infrastructure to prevent toads from accessing water. This proposal aims to halt the toad invasion and protect the biodiversity of the region. However, time is of the essence, as the toads are advancing at an accelerated rate.