Giant Cane Toads spotted in Tom Long's Meadow April 2008
A routine walk home from St. Bart's Primary School turned into quite an adventure for 9-year old Flo Paroli and her mother. They were walking home from school along the footpath across Tom Long's Meadow with their dog Lottie when Flo spotted movement near one of the willow trees. At first she thought it was a bird on the ground but when they got closer they spotted an enormous toad crouched beneath the tree roots. When it moved again, they noticed that there were actually two of them.
As young Flo recounts "They were absolutely huge. The biggest toads I've ever seen. My Mum wouldn't let me get closer because it had rained heavily the day before and the field was really wet. The toads seemed to be looking at us, but when I tried to get a bit closer, they went backwards into the tree stump, then we couldn't see them".
Flo's mother was also quite surprised. "Children do point out odd things, but when I saw the first toad, I was stunned. It was a giant - much bigger than any frog or toad I'd ever seen. Then we saw the second one. I knew they were really unusual".
Flo identified the toads when she went into school the next day - they were Giant Cane Toads. Her class teacher helped her look them up on the Internet and her class were really interested in what she had seen.
The two toads are suspected of being pets that have escaped or have been deliberately released by their owner. Our warming climate means that they do have a chance of surviving our winters, although it's unknown if they can actually breed in the UK.
An example of the US native Giant Cane Toad. This has been confirmed as very similar to the pair seen in Tom Long's Meadow
Cane toads originate from the southern United States and were introduced deliberately to Australia to control sugar cane pests in 1935. Since then they have run amok throughout the Australian continent and are now considered an undesirable pest. They poison pets and humans with their toxins, and prey on native fauna.
Average sized adults reach about 15cm in length, although the two spotted by Flo and her mother were thought to be considerably larger. This size increase is common in toads kept as pets. They are voracious eaters and uniquely in the amphibian world have tiny teeth that allows them to prey on a wide range of invertebrates and even small mammals.
Sightings of Giant Cane Toads in the UK are rare but not exceptional. They are not considered a risk to UK wildlife as a number of UK animals successfully prey on them.
