In a wonderful and “green” pest control plan, an Australian newspaper is reporting that a local authority in Queensland is set to introduce 22,000 Black Mamba snakes into the region in order to address the area’s Cane Toad problem. True, the Black Mamba is one of the most deadly snakes in the world: highly venomous, very fast and extremely aggressive, but this will surely rid Burdekin Shire of the much-hated invasive toads; except:
Burdekin Shire Council Animal Management Secretary William Matevellio said the jury was still out on whether the Black Mamba will hunt the cane toads, “Currently, there is no evidence that these snakes hunt cane toads, so this is just a trial. I can’t make any promises that the toad population will be reduced. We’ll have to wait and see.”
I’m all for experimentation though. In the meantime:
The introduction begins on the 29th of January and Council has told residents to be cautious when walking around their yards and homes. Council has also instructed residents to keep pets locked up inside until further notice.
It’s great to see the council finding novel ways of controlling these invasive alien species, without needing to use any nasty chemicals, which could potentially harm local residents.
Obviously I’m assuming that this time they’ve actually done a bit of research into the animal they’re introducing and their breeding habits and all that jazz. If not though, this is a problem. Currently that lovely driving game of “Try and Hit the Cane Toad” will become a lot harder at night when it becomes “Try and Hit the Black Mamba.” And possibly racist.
P.S. Once the I do propose to fix that problem though, once the toads are eradicated, they introduce some mongooses (mongeese? I do like the sound of that) to take care of the snakes. That way they’re keeping it somewhat African, and for those concerned about the creatures being weird looking, they will now have a species that is somewhat cute.
P.P.S. Can you edit the beginning of that last comment of mine please because I obviously had a brainfart and started typing two different thoughts at once there. And then delete this one. Or just keep all three and point and laugh at me.
Gops > Guess which option I chose? Hahahahahahahahahaha! 😉
Given how every second living thing in Australia is trying to kill you in some painful manner, I think the Black Mamba is probably regarded as a cute cuddly little thing…
Gosh. I am involved in invasive species studies at the moment, and generally the use of one alien species to control another does not go down so well. I am surprised about this. At least it is just the trial phase.
Now I see that this is all a hoax, ha ha, it got me.
CeeBee > Ms Brown! Welcome back! How are stuffs? 🙂
And I have to admit, I was reading with mouth agape until the council official dropped the F-bomb.
All good, am at UWC working on invasive grasses, no mambas, most thankfully!
CeeBee > You’re back! Oxford’s loss. If you come up with a way of getting rid of my Dodder (careful now), please let me know.