As thousands of cane toads continue to cross the country at an alarming rate, a battle is brewing between two organisations dedicated to stopping the toads from entering Western Australia. The Perth based ‘Stop the Toad’ coalition and the lesser known but well established ‘Kimberley Toad Busters’ are now fighting over which toad ‘mustering’ group is entitled to promised government funding.

At present both groups are receiving funds of $12,000 a month from the WA Department of Environment and Conservation. But a current review into the effectiveness of both groups by the ‘Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre’, will determine who will receive a further government funding boost. And the Kimberley group is growing nervous about being supplanted by the more media savvy Perth based ‘Stop the Toad’ group.

‘Stop the Toad’, established in October 2005, are supported by renowned author Tim Winton and former NBA player Luc Longley and has received quite a bit of coverage in the WA press for their toad busting efforts, which consist of an annual mustering event in which last years muster reported 135 people participated and caught a total of 48,318 toads. Their organisation includes six board members and 400 registered helpers. On their website they warn that “cane toads have changed the biological landscape of Qld, Northern NSW and the NT in disastrous and irreversible ways. And now they are on Western Australia’s doorstep. Ecologists warn that, unless stopped, cane toads will colonise Perth. They may even infest areas as far south as Margaret River and Esperance.”

“The bad news is that cane toads are approaching the WA border,” says STT, “the red line indicates the likely ‘current front line’ for toads but we wont know for certain until the waters recede from this wet season. As you can see, we are talking about defending a line roughly the length of Tasmania.”:

Their rivals, the ‘Kimberley Toad Busters’ are an organisation run by ordinary people living in the community, who devote every weekend to mustering and gassing the toads. Formed in September 2005, their numbers are bigger at 1700 and they’re a dedicated group who see the role as much about gathering scientific data as it is about busting the toads. They contend that mustering up the toads once a year is just not enough to stop the spread of the pest.

Both organisations use traps, fencing and hand collection. But STT are more focused on organising yearly musters and also tend to support other groups and individuals, whereas KTB tend to be on the field as much as possible.

Lee Scott-Virtue, the founder of KTB told Crikey. “tax payers will get better value for their money if it goes to the Kimberley group”.

“It needs to be managed by people who know what they are doing which is the Kimberley and The Department of Environment and Conservation,” says Scott- Virtue. “We consult every week and plan our strategies, they don’t have the people on the ground like we do.”

“I would like to see STT make better use of their funding in this cane toad fight, I feel STT need to review their strategies,” says Scott-Virtue. “We’re in the field all the time and they have had one five week muster with a year apart and no one in the field’.

But CEO of Stop the Toad Russell Gueho insists that the group are the ground trying to deprive the toads of water by focusing on the waterholes, and they’re currently working with aboriginal groups who are joining in the muster.

Russell Gueho told Crikey that they are not worried about the KTB receiving all the funds . And if STT receive the funds, Russell Gueho told Crikey, “We’re really keen to make sure some solid strategies are put into place, so this fight is well directed and well managed.”

Crikey contacted the WA Department of Environment to find out when the review’s funding decision would be handed down, but a spokesperson was unable to specify a date, nor could they tell Crikey if the funds both organisations are currently receiving will continue once a decision has been made.