Cane toad introduction (Australia)
- Researchers Walter Froggatt, entomologist: Wrote in 1936 that the toad could become a pest as large as the rabbit or the prickly pear cactus. Australian Geographic
- Company or project Sugar industry: Pressed with the Queensland government for the federal ban to be lifted. Wikipedia
- Government and regulators Prime Minister Joseph Lyons: Lifted the federal ban in 1936. Australian Geographic
In 1935 the cane toad was released in Queensland to control a sugar-cane pest. A warning issued the following year did not stop the releases, and the toad is now widespread.
Release figure and current population figure as stated in the sources reviewed; the population figure carries no individual citation.
Status The sources reviewed describe the toad as widespread across northern Australia; no later date is given.
- Sugar industry (expected benefit) — Expected control of the cane beetle; the toad did not control it. Wikipedia
- Native predators — Reported to be poisoned by the toad.
What happened
In August 1935 about 2,400 cane toads were released in Queensland. The toads had been brought from Hawaii by Reginald Mungomery of the Bureau of Sugar Experiment Stations. The aim was to control the cane beetle, a pest of sugar cane.
No impact study had been carried out before the release. It had not been tested whether the toad would eat the cane beetle.
In 1936 the entomologist Walter Froggatt wrote that the toad could become a pest as large as the rabbit or the prickly pear cactus. A federal ban on releases followed. The sugar industry and the Queensland government pressed for the ban to be lifted, and Prime Minister Joseph Lyons lifted it in 1936.
The toad had no effect on the cane beetle. The sources reviewed report that it now numbers more than 200 million animals and spreads by 40 to 60 kilometres a year, and that it poisons native predators.
- 1935About 2,400 cane toads released in Queensland in August; no impact study carried out
- 1936Walter Froggatt warns the toad could become a pest; a federal ban follows and is lifted the same year after pressure from the sugar industry and the Queensland government
What was said
Where accounts differ
Each party's account, side by side, with its source. The record does not settle these points; it shows them.
Wrote in 1936 that the toad could become a pest as large as the rabbit or the prickly pear cactus.
Australian GeographicPressed with the Queensland government for the federal ban to be lifted.
WikipediaLifted the federal ban in 1936.
Australian GeographicHow it looked
Shown
- The toad was introduced to control the cane beetle in sugar cane.Sugar industry and the Bureau of Sugar Experiment Stations (as described in the sources reviewed) · Wikipedia
Recorded
- The release went ahead without an impact study and without testing whether the toad ate the cane beetle.
- The 1936 warning led to a federal ban, which was lifted the same year.
- The toad did not control the cane beetle.
In court and with insurers
Lawsuits and rulings
Insurers
What nature saw
Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.
What we don't know
Nature
- Not measured Harm to nature: No independent ecological evaluation is on record.
- Disputed Should releases have continued after the 1936 warning?
Court
- None on record No court case on record.
Record
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: declines of up to 90% in some goanna (monitor lizard) populations in northern Australia, with no date given.
- None on record No source reviewed records any penalty or liability for the release or for lifting the 1936 ban.
Did the harm stop?
The 1936 ban on further releases was lifted the same year; the sources reviewed record no later halt to the toad's spread.
Who paid?
Native predators reported poisoned by the toad; no source reviewed records any party being held to pay.
Sources
Press and investigations
- Defining moments in Australian history: introduction of cane toadsAustralian Geographic · 2023-03
- Cane toads in AustraliaWikipedia ·