An Australian politician wants his state to dedicate a day for citizens to go outside and look for wildlife. But this will not be one of those hippy “appreciate the wonders of nature” days if Shane Knuth gets his way.

When residents of Queensland find what they’re looking for on their “Toad Day Out”, Knuth want them to kill it. This is, of course, the latest wheeze in the Australian human population’s ongoing eternal war with the CANE TOAD, an invasive species that has long wreaked havoc on the local wildlife.

“Basically we need … a special day that Queenslanders, especially children, could all play their part, very similar to Clean Up Australia (Day),” he says (Australia’s Daily Telegraph). “The toad is probably the greatest environmental vermin and probably the most disgusting creature known to man.”*

Any toads collected on Toad Day Out would be put in a fridge, where they would loose feeling, before being finished off by a short stay in the freezer. Knuth does admit to previously despatching toads in a less human fashion, having “belted toads with whatever I could get my hands on” (Courier and Mail).

The RSPCA said it would back the day if people avoided such belting. “Obviously we’re not idiots – we understand a lot people will be highly reluctant to fill their fridges and freezers with dying cane toads, but at the moment that is the only humane way that we can recommend,” says a spokesman.

Not everyone is happy.

Jenny Holdway, secretary of the Queensland Frog Society, says on the Courier Mail’s comments thread:

In the early 1990’s Toad Busts were a regular event and didn’t have an effect on them then so why now? A lot of the frozen ‘toads’ I saw then were actually one of Australia’s vulnerable frogs. … [M]y greatest fear is that the public will pick up any ‘brown’ amphibian and freeze it without knowing that most of our native amphibians are also brown.

Locals are also getting rather hot under the collar over the issue in this comments section. ‘Phatjohn of Brisbane’ says, “I say get them however you can; using shovel, car, or footy boot.”

‘Alfalfa of the gap’ argues, “You’re all a pack of ignorant bullies, using a lame justification of environmental protection as an excuse to club animals and satisy your blood lust.”

*I’d go with the hagfish as most disgusting creature known to man.

Image: Toad, showing expressed poison / Puravida Photos