1237c4135eba
tech



Hello Phil - 

PM>> Cane toads, I believe -- that I think were imported from
PM>> Africa. 

The origin of the 'cane' toad is South America btw. 

PM>> Seems there are now hoards of them there. And they're big
PM>> guys. A foot long, if I recall. And their skin secretes
PM>> some poisonous substance so they are not easily handled.
PM>> Really bizarre story. Don't remember for what purpose they
PM>> were brought to Australia in the first place, tho. 

>> 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 items
PM> brought in by foreign airline passengers are suspect. And I
PM> believe there are also restrictions about transporting
PM> animals and foodstuffs between states / territories.
PM> Probably because of the mistakes of the past. 

SARS panic is more likely. 

I would think most of the imported animals, bugs, etc. come by
boat in large shipments of foodstuffs. 

>> 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." 

>>  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 had them in North
PM> America as well. Someone in the echo down in Florida? JimH?
PM> Don't touch any toads, Jim! 

My daughter lives in Florida but has become so accustom to
poisonous this/that/other that she just shrugs it off and says
the toads are West and/or South of where she is and that it
gets too cold for them in her part of Florida. You get like
that when you live in a swamp? My guess is that the toads get
around down there during the hotter weather. 

I mentioned it to her because she has a little dog, Maltese,
that I was fond of when she lived here and didn't want him
trying to eat any of the tadpoles or one of the toads. She
mentioned lots of tadpoles in their pool this summer. 

>
>        ,                          ,
>      o/      Charles.Angelich      \o       ,
>       __o/
>     / >          USA, MI           < \   __\__
 

___ * ATP/16bit 2.31 * 
... DOS the Ghost in the Machine! http://www.undercoverdesign.com/dosghost/

--- Maximus/2 3.01