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Full Description
Before the birth of modern insecticides, farmers and gardeners used predatory and parasitic wasps and flies, insect-eating birds, lizards and toads as agents of biological control. In the late 19th century sugar cane scientists carried cane toads from Barbados to Puerto Rico, to Hawai'i and then Queensland to control pests. Toads were introduced to some 138 countries, and are now ranked among the world's most invasive species.
Queensland's sugar scientists released the toad into cane fields in 1935. They were supported by cane growers, politicians, the nation's leading scientists, the premier of Queensland and the prime minister of Australia. Only a lone voice objected. In the following 70 years they spread as far as western NSW and Western Australia.
This story is about good intentions and unintended catastrophic consequences. It is about scientists so committed to solving a problem, serving their country, their leaders and the industry that employed them, that they are blinkered to adverse impacts. There are lessons to learn from the toad's tale. And as the tale shows, we still come perilously close to repeating the mistakes of the past.
Contents
List of figures
Preface: of toads and men
1. The ancestors - fossil 41159
2. The apothecary's toad
3. The sweet grass
4. Queensland sugar - Hope and Whish
5. Ladybird fantasy
6. The cane beetles
7. Hawai'i leads biological control
8. Birth of a myth
9. Toad fantasy
10. Toads for Queensland
11. War on Canberra
12. Living with Bufo
13. Cane toad wars
14. Taking the Top End
15. Bad, flawed and reckless
Works cited
Index
