My fiancé, Travis, is in law school and had to do a presentation on Florida law changes related to wildlife. He discussed topics such as the recent change in fishing laws such as the restriction lifted for hunting lion fish, size restrictions on keeping certain kinds of fish, and the impact of invasive species. For his presentation he wanted to bring in a box full of cane toads. Cane toads are an invasive species that were brought to Florida to keep sugarcane pest free. The cane toads did not fulfill their purpose and began to reproduce at an astonishing speed. They have poison glands and no natural predators. They wipe out native species and eat just about anything including their own species. They have taken over many areas of Florida and are starting to overpopulate. They are poisonous which causes problems for me because I have two dogs that I walk at night when the toads come out. My dogs were not interested in them before but their curiosity is increasing. The toads blend into the grass so it is hard for me to see them. If either of my dogs got close enough to a toad they could get it in their mouth and come in contact with the poison or the toad could squirt his poison and it could get into the dogs eyes or nose. Al of these would cause excruciating pain for my dogs and most likely result in death.
So last night we went out again to collect cane toads from our yard. It is scary how many there are despite that we go out on a regular basis to remove them. A year ago they were not in our area and now they are EVERYWHERE! It is scary because they are poisonous to us too.
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