Aussies Croak Toxic Toads

By Mary Papenfuss,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 29, 2009 8:45 AM CDT
Aussies Croak Toxic Toads
A cane toad is weighed at a collection point in Cairns, Australia, before his untimely demise today.   (AP Photo/Brian Cassey)

Aussies killed thousands of "toxic" cane toads today in an annual hunting festival to help reduce their ravenous numbers, reports the Sydney Morning Herald. The toads were introduced in 1935 from South American to eat pest beetles, but they now number in the millions and are driving out local species and spreading disease. They were sent to their untimely demise by freezing or were placed in plastic bags filled with carbon dioxide.
(More toxic stories.)

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