Maybe the article should elaborate on the deeply caring and truly sharing measures taken to ensure the dignity of the humanely destroyed toads.
I wonder what is the message being sent to the school kids involved, in the spirit of the not-so-accidental Hidden curriculum - Wikipedia . That a citizen is not supposed to kill a toad without a government license? Or that “humane” talk, no matter how utterly ridiculous given the situation, is a good way to screen out the stark reality of life which inevitably also includes death?
Well, I think it’s more the idea that, if you’re going to kill something, you might as well make an effort to do it in a way that results in the least amount of suffering. I know; crazy concept.
It’s just the Australian version of Crunchy Frog. They use only the finest baby toads, dew picked and flown from Queensland, cleansed in finest quality spring water, lightly killed, and then sealed in a succulent Swiss quintuple smooth treble cream milk chocolate envelope and lovingly frosted with glucose.
Reminds me of a conversation I witnessed between 2 Aussies reminiscing about toad games they had as children.
You got your toads and put them on the side of a road. The one that made it farthest across before getting run over won.
There was also toad cricket and toad golf.
Apparently common past-times and ones that aren’t discouraged too much by adults.
This is a country where a short drive in the outback can leave hordes of dead Kangaroos in your wake. Those things have no sense- I swear they jump straight at the vehicle.
Cane toads are horrible pests that threaten the indigenous and increasingly rare native wildlife. Anything that keeps the numbers down is good, killing them humanely is a bonus.
The kids are learning valuable lessons.
Destroying ecosystems is easy
Eradicating pests is hard work
Hi Opal
Your elders often leave you with shit to sort out after they die
There is a good reason why Australia has strict border control policies relating to plant and animal species
Seemingly well thought out plans can have unforeseen and devastating consequences
According to Wiki, as soon as they’re done eating all the small reptiles, birds, invertebrates, mammals, insects, dog food, and household trash, they should starve to death.
Just a quick anecdote about the suicidal tendencies of 'roos. Back about 40 years ago I was driving with my mum up a highway dead-set through the centre of NSW. We’d been camping the night before and headed up the road just after daybreak. All was good, when we spotted a 'roo in the paddock beside the road. He was loping along, being a good kangaroo, so we slowed down the car to keep pace with him and to glory in his roo-ish magnificence!
We kept this up for about 5 leisurely kilometres, when in the distance we spotted another car heading towards us. Our ‘roo was still doing the paces, burning off the calories and keeping us amused…but just before the other car passed us, the friggin’ moronic critter decided to BOUND ACROSS THE ROAD in front of both cars. :rolleyes:
Yeah, lucky we were going slow 'cos otherwise Skippy would have been road-kill. As it was, he skidded into and under the car, but emerged the other side seemingly not-too-scathed. It’s been my one and only encounter with a 'roo on the roads, but the highway-margins tell another story…every km or so there’s another ‘crow-takeaway’ waiting to be consumed.
But as for the cane-toads, eradication is a good thing. Promoting animal cruelty is NOT a good thing. Toad-Day-Out is a responsible environmental program that mobilises local communities to help rid their areas of noxious pests. Like Land-Care, it gives power back to rural groups to give them a sense of personal autonomy in bringing the bush back to life.
And btw, Cane-Toad cricket is a bad thing…it totally fucks up yer’ bat!
Quokka Soccer on the other hand…
I live in Queensland. I’ve just finished 12 years of schooling and I’ve never heard of toad day out. Neither has any of my family, including 10 other school aged children.
I’ve been here over 10 years and I’ve never heard of it either. Still, I support what they’re doing, especially since cane toads are notoriously difficult to kill “properly”.
