19 June 2024 Funding for phase I of the toad containment zone is announced
Cane toads have completely invaded WA’s iconic Kimberley region. Their invasion of the Kimberley has killed hundreds of thousands of native animals and irrevocably changed the ecology of the Kimberley. They are now on their way to Western Australia’s Pilbara region, which is packed with plant and animal species found nowhere else in the world. It is also packed with deep rocky gorges and permanent water points. Toads will thrive here, if we let them.
In a few years, we will have a once in a lifetime opportunity to stop the toad invasion, before it reaches the Pilbara. On the 19th June 2024, the Hon. Reece Whitby, Minister for Energy; Environment; Climate Action announced funding for Phase I of a plan to seize that opportunity and prevent the arrival of toads into the Pilbara. The funding, to Rangelands NRM WA, will help us develop a one of a kind partnership: a partnership between Indigenous landowners – Nyangumarta and Karajarri – and local pastoralists; a partnership that, when fully funded in phase II, can deliver a nationally significant conservation action. We thank Minister Whitby and the WA Department of Water and Environmental Regulation for their support of this project.
The idea that toads can be stopped south of Broome is now well supported by science: make agricultural waterpoints inaccessible to toads in this region, and the invasion stops. The idea builds off decades of scientific work, from multiple independent groups at multiple institutions. So here’s thanks to the many people that have developed and tested this idea over the last 15 years - Tim Dempster, Mike Letnic, Reid Tingley, Darren Southwell, Daniel Florance, Benjamin Feit, Jonathan Webb, Tim Jessop, Michael Kearney, Stuart J.E. Baird, Rick Shine, Greg Brown, Greg Clarke, Graeme Sawyer, Emily Gregg, Heloise Gibb, Emily Nicholson, Michael Bode, Adam Smart, and Judy Dunlop to name a few!
When the toads arrive, we will be ready for them.
For more information, visit the Toad Free Zone website here. See the media release from Curtin here.
