![](https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Deborah-Metters_cane-toad-500x334.png)
THE ACT government’s biosecurity team discovered a male cane toad at its Yarralumla Wholesale Nursery last Friday (March 12).
ACT conservator of flora and fauna, Ian Walker, suspects the cane toad came in from a shipment of nursery plants that arrived from Queensland the previous week.
While he’s confident that there was only one cane toad that snuck into the ACT, he says the community should still stay vigilant and report any suspected sightings.
However, he advises Canberrans who do see what they believe to be a cane toad to exercise caution and take a close-up photograph to show Access Canberra (13 22 81).
He says not to kill it because it’s most likely a native frog, and advises people, if they need to catch a suspected cane toad, to wear rubber gloves and eye protection and put it into a well-ventilated container with 1cm of water.
“We are confident that there is no risk to Canberra’s environment because this one cane toad was inadvertently transported to Canberra on a truck,” Mr Walker says.
“Teams from across government undertook an intensive search of the nursery and surrounding area over the weekend. No additional cane toads were located during these searches, indicating that this was an isolated incursion.”
If further cane toads are found, Mr Walker says it’s highly unlikely a cane toad population would establish this far south due to Canberra’s cold winter climate, especially with the colder weather experienced on Sunday.
“This incident was treated seriously, and through the diligence of the nursery staff in their reporting and the quick investigation and action from those involved in the response, any possibility of a population of cane toads persisting in the nursery has been removed,” he says.
He says cane toads are toxic at all stages of their lifecycle from eggs to tadpoles to adults and their toxin is strong enough to kill most native and domestic animals including pets and some threatened species.
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