Breaking News
Australia has been invaded.Invaded!
The effrontery, the savagery, the unmitigated gall...
...
...
The Australian Army is being called in to confront the invasion of ... toxic toads.
Yes, you read that correctly - TOADS.
And here I was expecting more shenanigans from Al Qaeda or Wacky Kim Jong Il.
I get that this is serious to Australian ecosystems, but the story tickled my funny bone. The devil of it is, they do sound like nasty beasts:
The toads, Bufo Marinus, were introduced from South America into northeast
Queensland state in the 1930s to control another pest -- beetles that were ravaging the sugar cane fields of the tropical northern coasts.
But the toads now number in the millions and are spreading westward through the Northern Territory, upsetting the country's ecosystem in their wake.
Cane toads have poisonous sacs on the back of their heads full of a venom so powerful it can kill crocodiles, snakes or other predators in minutes.
All attempts to fight the spread of the toads so far have failed.
Can kill a croc in a matter of minutes? Johnny, get your gun!
