B E B E R E

Cane Toads Attack!

One of the fun things about movie night at Hal's place is, you never know what you're liable to end up seeing. Sometimes he picks up stuff at the library, sometimes at the Salvation Army. Heck, sometimes he even buys DVDs at the store, at full price. The programming is, to say the least, eclectic: one evening we ended up watching a souvenir video of some salt mines near Krakow, a Kate Bush video and a Samurai film. Another time, it was some british comedy from the 90s (by the guys who brought us The Young Ones), a Buster Keaton tour-de-force and a couple episodes from the David Attenborough's Blue Planet series.

Most recently, Hal brought home a documentary on the cane toad infestation in New South Wales (which we watched with something by Bunuel, more David Attenborough and a samurai film.) Originally brought in from Hawaii to control the sugar cane beetles, these toads, which have no natural predators and breed like Australian rabbits have been wreaking havoc on the ecosystem in the northeast for some time now. Since this documentary was made not quite 20 years ago, it left us with some nagging questions: what's the current situation with the toads? Has their spread been checked or are they taking over more territory?

Apparently they're doing quite well, thank you very much. Not a good thing for the other animals out they're coming in contact with. Not a good thing at all.