An Australian Toad as Big as a Small Dog

A huge cane toad (Bufo marinus) the size of a small dog and nicknamed Toadzilla has been captured in northern Australia by the environmentalist group Frogwatch on Tuesday.

With a body the size of a football and weighing nearly 2 pounds (0,9 kg), the toad is the largest specimen ever captured in Australia's Northern Territory. "It's huge, to put it mildly. The biggest toads are usually females but this one was a rampant male ... I would hate to meet his big sister", said Frogwatch coordinator Graeme Sawyer.

Frogwatch, which is dedicated to wiping out the alien toxic toad species that has killed countless Australian animals, picked up the 15-inch (40 cm) long cane toad during a raid on a pond outside the northern city of Darwin late Monday.

Cane toads are original from tropical America (Mexico to northern Argentina) and were imported during the 1930s in a failed attempt to stop beetle invasion on Australia's northern sugar cane plantations.

Instead of destroying the beetles, the voracious toads started to engulf a large array of native species, especially native frogs and toads, and as it is highly poisonous, this species has proven fatal to Australia's delicate ecosystems, as millions of native predators, from snakes to small crocodiles, died of their toxins.

This made the toad experience a reproductive boom and to continuously increase its areal.

Environmentalists have been trying to stop the spread of the poisonous creatures across the country's tropics.

Residents have been asked to help stop the spread of this most unwelcome pest.

As part of its so-called "Toad Buster" project, Frogwatch conducts regular raids on local water holes, blinding the toads with bright lights then scooping them up by the dozen. "We kill them with carbon dioxide gas, stockpile them in a big freezer and then put them through a liquid fertilizer process that renders the toads nontoxic. It turns out to be sensational fertilizer." Sawyer said.