from w
There's one creature in Fiji that I really do not like though perhaps some people might think they have great personalities just like someone in Vanuatu reckons Peter Foster is a charming man!
They are of course in Queensland, Australia also. The first time I saw them was at a Fiji school where the toilets were just cement footprints on a slab and cane toads were hopping about which was very scary. In Australia they are gradually moving from Queensland and even into Northern Territory.
The Cane Toad has large poison glands, and adults and tadpoles are highly toxic to most animals if ingested. Because of its voracious appetite, the Cane Toad has been introduced to many regions of the Pacific and the Caribbean islands as a method of agricultural pest control, notably in the case of Australia in 1935, and derives its common name from its use against sugar cane pests. The Cane Toad itself is now considered a pest in many of its introduced regions, as its toxic skin kills many native predators when ingested.
Perhaps as the Interim government in Fiji is looking for creating wealth if other industries such as sugar and gold collapse, they could set up a factory to make flip-flops out of cane toad skin. Ugh!
Got those too in Hawaii. Most I've seen were on Kauai. They'd get flattened by cars at night and eaten by Mynah birds by day - don't know why the poison doesn't get the birds.
ReplyDeleteNot many on Maui now - too many cars!
A Fiji TV news item tonight was on work being done to rid Viwa Island of cane toads. You might be interested in it. Check www.fijitv.com.fj. I don't see much of them these days though.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments Panda and Gilbert. I really do find cane toads gross.
ReplyDeleteFiji TV is down for maintenance at present so I can't find that piece about Viwa. There is a lot of really good research being done in Fiji about plants, animals, the environment, but the stories don't get front page news which is reserved for the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune - and I am amused/puzzled/annoyed by the slip-up of the Methodist leaders at present. Ha ha. And on the Australian news there's the story of frolicking Peter Foster who really reminds me of...okay... I won't say it...
w.
Ugh - I hate them!
ReplyDeleteThe dogs used to love rolling on the dead ones squashed on the road and then we'd have to wash them to get rid of the smell!
Also, late at night, they used to raid the dogs' dinner dishes for the leftovers and make a hell of a noise!
There's also nothing like stepping barefoot on a toad - makes my skin crawl just thinking about it!
NZM said "There's also nothing like stepping barefoot on a toad - makes my skin crawl just thinking about it!"
ReplyDeleteI imagine the toads didn't like it much either. ;^)
Wendy, the Fiji TV website is up and running again. It's a new look site altogether. By the way, who did you mean when you referred to Peter Foster? Houdini? LOL!
ReplyDeletePB: stuff the toads, think about the humans! lol.
ReplyDeletePB: stuff the toads, think about the humans! lol.
ReplyDeleteStuff the toads says Nzm. What? Put a stuffed toad on the shelf? Haha.
ReplyDeleteGilbert, I noticed that FijiTV wants ys to sign in and I'm worried that the bati leka or bati balavu will track through records to see what we all write. Is that possible?
About 'Houdini'. Yeah, what a trickster, tripping up on everything he does and leaving mayhem behind. I think he is like a cane toad really - and sorry, if that's a mean thing to say from a radini ni talatala, but he causes damage to other people as he is so narcissistic - so self obsessed whatever the consequences. Okay?
w.
Wendy, I don't know much about that. I don't visit the Fiji TV website much apart from listening to their evening news. I am more satisfied with Fiji Times and Fiji Live.
ReplyDeleteI think Peter Foster's day of reckoning will come soon. Don't worry.
ReplyDeleteYes Gilbert. His day of reckoning has surely come. Yesterday, barefoot and in a prison uniform he faced court and was refused bail. He won't sneak out and stay in a 4 star hotel this time.
ReplyDeletefrom Fiji paper today;
Conman Foster denied bail
0940 FJT
Friday, February 09, 2007
Update: 9.40am FORMER fugitive Peter Foster will not see his beloved Gold Coast any time soon after his run of lucky breaks dried up yesterday when he was denied bail in the Brisbane Magistrates Court.
Despite a 20-year international criminal history, including fleeing custody, breaching bail and interfering with witnesses, Foster's lawyer Michael McMillan argued his client was eligible for bail.
He said Foster had come home to 'face the music' and was a changed man from the days when he skipped bail, leaving a Surfers Paradise woman with a $250,000 surety bill.
etc. etc.
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Oh yeah sure! He probably left bills behind in Fiji and let Laisa the singer pay a $5000 bond when he was supposed to be rich himself!
w
Yes, I wondered what was his connection to Laisa Vulakoro. Perhaps he was a previous benefactor to her music career? I'm glad that he's finally facing the music. This time, big brother will get him.
ReplyDeleteI remember some people who walk around on tiptoe at night in order to avoid those toads! And in the unfortunate events that one stepped on a toad, there was a shriek followed by a huge leap that could just break Olympic records! LOL!
ReplyDeleteOn the news yesterday was the fact that the cane toads have now reached Sydney and that the powers-that-be have decided that they just can't stop the march of the toads.
ReplyDeletew.
I am feeling grateful by reading your blog.I came to know about toads that even he has poison but really helpful in killing pest.
ReplyDeleteYou have shared great information about toads. I have no more knowledge about it.
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