Every year, continue their destructive march across the country, and killing native animals as they go. But one man recently highlighted an impressive device helping rid huge populations of the pest which is widely considered one of the country's "worst invaders". Byron Bay local Mark has been proudly restoring the small rainforest and creek that runs through his property.
However, after successfully removing an , a new problem emerged. "Last summer I improved the water quality in the small billabong, by removing the very invasive parrot feather aquatic weed," he told Yahoo News Australia. "The result of that was that I could see the actual cane toad tadpole swarms as they were forming.
" After hearing about the Cane Toad Tadpole Trap and Lure device, which uses lure technology designed by researchers at the University of Queensland, he decided to give it a try. "When the Watergum trap arrived I knew exactly where to put it," he explained. "It now only takes minutes before I see the swarm start to go into the trap! And the rest of the swarm follows in the next few hours.
" Mark claims that it's "much more effective" than the nighttime toad busting they used to do in the past. This year, using the trap for the second time, he caught thousands of tiny critters in just 18 hours. While it is hard to say definitively, he believes the populations in his vicinity are starting to decline, saying he's only seen one swarm so far this summer.
Now, Mark is encouraging local authorities to .