The first way cane toads cause ecological damage in Australia is through their paratoid glands, and it impacts this area the same way it has impacted Florida. They have no predators in Australia that can consume them and they’re poisonous in every stage of their lives.
Another way that cane toads have caused ecological damage to Australia is by irreversibly damaging the populations some of their native species. This differs from the United States because there is no information about the cane toads pushing any particular species to near extinction in Florida. However, the northern quoll (Dasyurus hallucatus) population in Australia has seen a drastic population decline since the introduction of cane toads. A study done in 1997 found that …show more content…
Firstly, cane toads are ugly animals. People generally dislike animals that are unappealing visually so stakeholders tend to not care about their well-being. Next, there is also a huge safety concern when it comes to living near cane toads. Their paratoid gland has attracted a huge amount of negative attention from parents and pet owners alike. If a child is to touch a cane toad and then put their hand in their mouth or rub their eyes they could become extremely sick from ingesting small doses of the bufotoxin and cause severe irritation to their eyes. Even handling a cane toad is potentially dangerous because it has been known to irritate skin. If a pet is to bite down on a cane toad the Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation has stated to wash out their mouth but they could die without immediate medical attention (www.wec.ufl.edu). The final social impact regarding cane toads in Florida was a trend several years ago that received national media attention. Teenagers in Florida began licking cane toads in 2014 for a social media trend in an attempt to get high off of their bufotoxin. The high they were experiencing was actually their bodies fighting off the toxin they had just ingested, however this didn’t seem to stop people from doing it and several people were hospitalized for it …show more content…
People that travel to Australia to see wildlife may be less prone to visit if their species diversity continues to shrink. One other difference is that unlike the United States of America, Australia has allocated over 2 million dollars so far towards cane toad control. This being said, they also mentioned that they will probably never be rid of their cane toad problem no matter how much funding they throw at it