Al salaam a'alaykum Phil

22 Jul 03 07:46, Phil Marlowe wrote to Charles Angelich:

 PM>> handled. Really bizarre story. Don't remember for what
 PM>> purpose they were brought to Australia in the first place,
 PM>> tho.

They were imported to combat some insect in the sugar cane industry. Seems
they preferred to eat life other than the cane moth (or what ever it was)
and hopped away from the cane fields.

 >> Makes you wonder how people so ignorant manage to
 >> get the money and the permission to do these
 >> things?

 PM>  Australia is now supposed to have some of the strictest
 PM>  import / customs laws anywhere. Even minor food
 PM>  items brought in by foreign airline passengers are
 PM>  suspect. And I believe there are also restrictions
 PM>  about transporting animals and foodstuffs between
 PM>  states / territories. Probably because of the
 PM>  mistakes of the past.

Not only between states. One is not supposed to take bananas into banana
growing areas, even within a state, for fear of external disease attacking
the crops. Same with sugar cane areas - no "importing" cane.

One isn't allowed to take honey to Wetern Australia either. Seems we have
some bee disease here on the east that they don;t have on the west. The
west is separated by desert regions from the east so the bees don't migrate
by themselves.

 >> I did a search on the Internet and came up with
 >> this page:

 >> http://www.fdrproject.org/pages/toads.htm

 >> "Fish who eat toadpoles die. Animals who eat young
 >> toads and adults die. The museums have plenty of
 >> snakes preserved in jars which were killed by toad
 >> toxin so fast, the toad is still in their mouths
 >> unswallowed. Even small amounts of water which
 >> toadpoles have gotten into, such as a pet's water
 >> dish, can be poisoned by toadpoles. When the pet
 >> comes along to drink from it's dish, it becomes
 >> sick. Local vets report that a couple dogs a month
 >> are brought in ill just from mouthing toads."

If one handles then with bare hands the poison is/can be absorbed through
the skin. Supposedly results in a "high" (or a low, when one
karks).

 >> http://www.gsmfc.org/nis/nis/Bufo_marinus.html

 >> "Maximum Size: This species typically grows to a
 >> length of 152 mm, with a maximum recorded length
 >> of 238 mm for the species (Behler, 1979; Conant
 >> and Collins, 1991).

 >> Distribution: This species naturally occurs from
 >> the Amazon basin in South America, through Central
 >> America to extreme southern Texas (Conant and
 >> Collins, 1991).

 >> Marine toads are established in Stock Island and
 >> Key West, as well as throughout Dade and Broward
 >> counties, and in Tampa Bay, Hillsborough county,
 >> Florida (Ashton and Ashton, 1988; Conant and
 >> Collins, 1991)."

 PM>  Worse than I remember. And didn't know we
 PM>  had them in North America as well.

 PM>  Someone in the echo down in Florida?

They (the toads) don't cope well with cold (snow/frost), or the more desert
areas. They love tropical areas though.....

Regards,
David

--- Msged/LNX TE 06 (pre)