The cane toad mystery

Sometimes mankind attributes
Success in what they do
And takes on perhaps the reason
That it’s us who muddles through
When perhaps it’s disrespecting
MOTHER NATURE who
Has all the facts before her
And knows exactly what to do

One such case was Cane Toads
It seemed a good idea.
Back in 1935 when beetles
Did appear
Mono sugar production
Vast fields of it
Were sown
It was about the money
And massive amounts were grown
nature wouldn’t have done
This without diversity
This mono culture effort
Was an utter travesty

Two wrongs will never make a right
But unlike Nature we
Are engaged in making money
For the corporatocracy
It’s eyes are on the balance sheet
No triple bottom line
Profits without a prophet
Around to keep things fine

And so they imported CANE TOADS
To gobble cane beetles for they
Were ruining the sugar cane
And that was not the way
Remember there were no prophets
Just bankers and their creed
As ignorant as the day is long
Driven by pure greed

Rather than reduce the sugar cane
And grow other balancing plants
Bring in another wrong idea
Give that thought a chance
Forgetting that these Cane Toads
Were as toxic as hell
And any native creature
Eating them would not fare well

Man kind is wholly arrogant
It’s only him that is right
What does Mother Nature know
Why would they invite.
her to sort the problem
When man is Number one
He forgets he cannot control the wind
Neither did he make the sun

And so batches of cane toads
Were introduced and they
Went to Cairns & Gordonvale and InnisFail
To prey
On the sugar beetles
Then Ingham Ayr and more
And they absolutely loved the place
Really did adore

All these beetles everywhere
The warm and sunny clime
Leaving America and getting to Australia
In time
The distances of travel made Cane toads legs
Grow stronger
bigger they could migrate further faster
Even longer
Queensland into New South Wales and the Northern Territories too
The Torres Strait Islands and even Kakadu
Began to feel the clamour
What was the hullabaloo
Armies of these toxic toads
Coming after you

Unbeknown to the arrogance
to the human mind
Nature has some good ideas
and over time will find
Ways of their curtailment
The meat ant being one
who immune to their toxins
and will eat them
and the fun
They have for cane toads standing
still not running away
Whilst hordes of meat ants scoff them
Make the blighters pay

That’s Nature using remedies
Worked out that will be
Sustainable and balanced
in the scheme of things
And we
Should learn from her
but man is tops
He flops
where ere he be
Never learns from his errors
He is too arrogant you see

The black kite eats
the Cane Toad
Avoiding its belly they
Have the knowledge
and they know
How to get away
With nutrition
without the toxin
Other species too
Have the programmed secrets
And know what to do

Meanwhile the Cane Toad era
and their armies
On the run
See Skinks and Quolls
And Snakes and the Goanna
All but done
In by toxic substances
mans lack of adequacy
His arrogance
and his ignorance defeats
His wish to be

Then what kicks in
is his weirdness
his basic disrespect
His irreverence for Nature
Which when it is unchecked
Sees disparagement
and disfavour
and insolence
at work
Sees insulting and disdainful
In his ugly mind they lurk

Leather from the skin of toads
Then Cane Toad Golf and Cricket
Using the toad as the ball to hit
On a sticky wicket

These invasive species
Were truly the extreme
Our mono culture madness
We never heard the scream
We marched on through the madness
Forgoing Nature who
Knows best taking longer
But knowing what to do
Gradually introducing
More factors to control
Rebalancing the eco system
And encouraging more soul