Why were cane toads introduced in Australia?

Cane toads introduced to eat Cane Beetle

From http://www.amonline.net.au/factsheets/canetoad.htm

Cane Toads were introduced to Australia to eat French's Cane Beetle and the Greyback Cane Beetle. The 'whitegrub' larvae of these beetles eat the roots of sugar cane and kill or stunt the plants. The Australian Bureau of Sugar Experimental Stations imported about 100 toads from Hawaii to the Meringa Experimental Station near Cairns. The toads bred quickly and more than 3000 were released in the sugar cane plantations of north Queensland in July 1935.

[Unfortunately, although the toads will eat the larvae, they are unavailable to the toads as larvae because they are in the root systems, so the toads never solved the problem they were introduced to fix.]

Cane Toads are considered a pest in Australia because they:

poison pets and injure humans with their toxins poison many native animals whose diet includes frogs, tadpoles and frogs' eggs eat large numbers of honey bees, creating a management problem for bee-keepers prey on native fauna compete for food with vertebrate insectivores such as small skinks may carry diseases that are can be transmitted to native frogs and fishes.

[These toads have no natural preditors in Australia, and they breed very well. They have become a destructive addition to the natural Australian habitat.]

First answer by ID2171629052. Last edit by ID3436415742. Question popularity: 15 [recommend question]