Northern Territory, Australia
An Australian member of Parliament upset animal-welfare advocates this week when he called on all citizens to kill as many poisonous cane toads as they could. “Hit them with cricket bats, golf clubs, and the like,” said David Tollner. The cane toad, native to South America, was brought to Australia in the 1930s to eat the beetles that were destroying crops. But because their toxic skin is fatal to Australian predators such as crocodiles and dingoes, the toads have multiplied beyond control. There are now up to 100 million of them swarming across the countryside. Animal-welfare advocates said that rather than bludgeoning the toads, it would be more humane to catch them and put them in the freezer until they die.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Nepal chooses toddler as its new ‘living goddess’Under the Radar Girls between two and four are typically chosen to live inside the temple as the Kumari – until puberty strikes
-
October 5 editorial cartoonsCartoons Sunday's political cartoons include half-truth hucksters, Capitol lockdown, and more
-
Jaguar Land Rover’s cyber bailoutTalking Point Should the government do more to protect business from the ‘cyber shockwave’?
