Can home gardeners finally turn the tide against the invasive cane toad population?

Gardening · Published 30 September 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Cane toads have plagued Australia for decades, threatening native wildlife. Now, a Queensland-based charity has developed a new trap and lure system designed for home gardeners to help manage the invasive species. This segment explores how individuals can participate in this grassroots pushback.

The cane toad (Rhinella marina) is a long-standing environmental challenge in Australia. To address this, the non-profit charity Watergum has created a specialized trapping method. Jerry Coleby-Williams meets with Nikki Thomsett, an Invasive Species Project officer at Watergum, to demonstrate how these tools function within a domestic garden setting.

This initiative, featured in Season 35, Episode 28 of Gardening Australia, aims to empower residents to protect local biodiversity by removing these interlopers from their properties. The segment highlights the collaborative effort between environmental experts and the public to mitigate the impact of this invasive species.

General information, not professional advice. Spotted an error? Flag the card or see corrections and complaints.

Intellect Plus is a visual educational discovery platform for exploring fascinating facts and ideas. Brain Food, Not Brain Rot. What is Intellect Plus?

Related

• How Australian home gardeners are helping scientists combat a deadly frog disease
• Why a failed agricultural experiment created one of the world's most successful invasive pests.
• The Asian common toad is a global traveler with a deadly, toxic secret
• The etiquette of garden encounters: what to do with local wildlife
• The New Zealand Currant Bush is creating sterile Australian forests
• Stop losing your seedlings to slugs without relying on harsh chemical treatments
• Meet the researcher who feeds hundreds of mosquitoes with his own arm daily.
• How to repel garden pests using old laundry bags and smoky tea
• The non-chemical barrier: how mesh creates a fortress for your garden
• How to replace boxwood in your garden during a pest crisis
• Stop wildlife from destroying your vegetable garden with these simple, effective physical barriers
• Could ducks be the ultimate solution for managing slugs in your vegetable garden?

More in Garden pests & diseases · More in Gardening · Latest · A–Z · All topics