Attack of the poisonous toads!
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. —
Residents in a Florida neighborhood are terrified for the safety of their children and pets after they began seeing thousands of dime-sized toads plaguing their yards in Palm Beach Gardens.
Jennifer Quasha says in the eight years she has lived in her neighborhood, she has never seen anything like this before.
“I just can’t believe it! It’s just really gross. I feel like I don’t have a backyard. I don’t have a front yard. I feel if we don’t leave we’re confined to the indoors. I feel like the toads are taking over,” Quasha said.
Quasha says her family noticed the toads Friday.
“We woke up to tens of thousands of what we didn’t know at the time if they were frogs or toads at the time entering our swimming pool by the hundreds,” Quasha explained.
The mother of three and her neighbors believe the little amphibians are Bufo toads. The species is commonly known for causing eye or irritation in children and harming pets.
“If they are those toads they definitely are an issue,” said Ethan Howell, the manager of Florida Environmental Pest Management. “They are poisonous and they excrete a liquid from their glands and if that is ingested by (a) dog, it can be fatal.”
Howell says a population explosion of this magnitude is very uncommon. But he says there are many factors that can cause the toads to reproduce quicker.
“When the conditions are like they have been -- really high, influx of warm weather, up in the 80s and 90s and quite a bit of rain, which causes more standing water -- there’s more opportunities for them to reproduce,” Howell said.
Quasha believes the lake directly behind her home is the causing the “infestation” of Bufo toads.
When she reached out to the homeowners association to express her concerns she says they sent out a mass email stating, "This event is a natural course of nature not having anything to do with the ecosystem of the lake. The opinion is that this is an isolated occurrence not derived from the lake.”
The email goes on to explain this situation has occurred in Mirasol before and they recommend residents hire a pest control specialist.
“I’m hoping to find out if something was supposed to be done. If the owners of this lake and master association was supposed to be maintaining the lake and possibly pulling out the fish eggs from the lake and euthanizing the adult toads,” Quasha said. “I’m sure they couldn’t possibly get them all, but it would never be to this magnitude had they been doing so.”
WPBF reached out to the neighborhood's management team, which said the board contacted a toad removal service and that trapping and netting the cane toads will begin Tuesday.
Link:
https://www.kmbc.com/article/a-plagu...MrI7bI02PVREOk