http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/7082441/Australian-hopes-to-export-cane-toads-to-China.html
Australian hopes to export cane toads to China An Australian farmer claims that China can ease the country's cane toad plague if its consumers can be persuaded the reptile is a food with health benefits. by Bonnie Malkin Published: 11:08AM GMT 27 Jan 2010 A deal with China could help rid Queensland of a population believed to have exceeded more than 200 million Photo: REUTERS Cane toads are reviled in Australia as a noxious pest that destroys native wildlife. John Burey, a meat processor from Queensland, is planning a trip to Beijing next month where he hopes to convince the Chinese to sign a large export deal that could take millions of cane toads off Australia's hands. "At this stage, it would seem the demand for our cane toads is quite substantial," he told the Courier Mail newspaper. The Chinese reportedly use toad poison as an expectorant, heart stimulant and as a diuretic. The toxin has also been used as a remedy for toothache and sinusitis. Mr Burey said cane toad meat was also popular. "The skin, organs and gut are also used for traditional medicines," he said. A deal with China could help rid Queensland of a population believed to have exceeded more than 200 million since its introduction to control the sugar cane beetle in 1935. Mr Burey said an export deal could result in collection depots being established up and down the Queensland coast. "It would be like collecting aluminium cans, people could bring them to us and we would pay per animal or per kilo," he said. However, some cane toad experts have warned Mr Burey that his plan is doomed to fail. James Terpstra, who sold more than 60,000 cane toad skins to America to be made into boots in the 1970s, said the Australian cane toad was incompatible with Chinese needs. "The cane toads that are in Australia, the bufo marinus, they're a totally different species to what China were interested in." Mr Terpstra told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that he travelled to China to attend a trade fair and sent venom samples to Japan, but both deals still fell through. "We had the wrong type of toad. The ones they were interested in were called bufo gargarizans." [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
