More than 1,000 cane toads captured in first Darwin botanic gardens bust in years
In short:
More than 1,000 cane toads have been caught at a community toad bust in Darwin's botanic gardens.
It was the first time in more than a decade the popular pest management event had been held at the gardens.
What's next?
The toads captured at the event will be stored in fridges and freezers to humanely kill them, then be sent to a local taxidermist.
The first cane toad bust in more than a decade at Darwin's George Brown Botanic Gardens has found more than 1,000 toads.
On Tuesday night, more than 90 volunteers showed up to the city's only botanic gardens, in pouring rain, to hunt for the pests.
More than 90 volunteers searched for cane toads at the botanic gardens. (Supplied: NT Tourism and Events)
Toad busts are a common wet-season event in some Top End sites, where community members are invited to find and capture as many cane toads as possible, but the last one at the gardens was more than 10 years ago.
George Brown Botanic Gardens director Ben Lui said the gardens had year-round irrigation and a number of ponds and waterways, which make the area the "perfect habitat" for the invasive species.
Ben Lui says cane toads pose a threat to the garden's wildlife. (Supplied: NT Tourism and Events)
"We've got lots of native lizards and snakes, but also, a lot of the local community walk their dogs through the gardens, and toads can be fatal to all of those animals," he said.
"They do reproduce in [the gardens] and they can make their way out into the community as well, and they're the same sort of threats to people's pets."
Cane toads have two glands that secrete a toxin, which can be deadly to small animals if ingested.
After collecting cane toads from the botanic gardens, volunteers sorted them into buckets. (Supplied: NT Tourism and Events)
Mr Lui said his staff had been shocked at the number of toads found in the community bust.
"We weren't really sure how many we would get, not having done it in a number of years," he said.
"We had guesses of 100, 200 toads, but the final tally ended up being over 1,000 toads."
The heaviest toad caught weighed just under 300 grams. (Supplied: NT Tourism and Events)
The heaviest toad caught on the night weighed just under 300 grams.
Local toad-busting veterans the Mitchell family won the prize for the most toads caught in one night, with a total of 353 toads.
"My kids had buckets — mine was about 15 kilos, it was full to the brim — and [my wife] Jen comes over carrying 10 cane toads and she's trying to put them in and they're flying out," Joel Mitchell said.
"We just had handfuls of cane toads … it was all pretty hectic."
The Mitchell family regularly volunteer at cane toad busts. (ABC News: Tilda Colling)
Mr Mitchell said a lot of wet-season toad busts were held in the Darwin rural area, but he hoped to see more events in areas like the botanic gardens.
"There's all these amazing habitats and this green belt around Darwin that's really getting overrun by cane toads and really impacting wildlife," he said.
He said at a local park, the frilled-neck lizard population had been "decimated" by the invasive species.
These young toad busters were chuffed with their results. (Supplied: NT Tourism and Events)
Jenny Mitchell said it was a great event to get some family time with her kids.
"My kids care about nature, three teenagers, and it's really positive family time for us … it's a rare and unique opportunity to get outside and get in nature," she said.
The captured toads will be stored in fridges and freezers to humanely kill them, before being sent to a local taxidermist.
The captured toads will be killed humanely. (Supplied: NT Tourism and Events)