Oscar's Revolting Gift

That Oscar is going to lose the rest of his lives if he keeps going on the way he is...

I woke about six this morning. His lordship had woken earlier and gone outside and to my knowledge, he hadn't come back in. I would have known, because he usually demands his breakfast. So I wondered out into the kitchen and put the kettle on for my cup of coffee, wondered into the bathroom, had a shower, came out and made my coffee. While I was waiting for it to settle (I have a plunger), I went to make the bed. At this stage it was still quite dark, being overcast, and I could see a dark blob on the carpet underneath the window. I turned on the light and my skin crawled...there was a toad sitting bolt upright, as they do...ugh!

Now the Queensland cane toads are the most revolting creatures ever and they aren't even native to Australia. Some bright spark imported them in to get rid of the cane beetle which can do a lot of damage to the cane fields in north Queensland. Thanks to this idiot the toads found they liked Australia so much they rapidly multiplied, gradually spreading further abroad...they have now been found in northern New South Wales. They have no redeeming features whatsoever, are poisonous to pets, and have been responsible for the demise of a lot of species of frogs. If there are lots of toads, there are very few frogs.

The crows will eat them, they have learnt how to flip the toads over to avoid being squirted by the poison. Magpies will eat them once they are dead and I have heard that red bellied black snakes will also eat them, apparently not affected by the poison.

There are varying ways to kill the toads, the most humane way is catching them in plastic bags and putting them in the freezer. Apparently they go into hibernation mode and of course are eventually frozen. They have to be left in the freezer for a few weeks as, if they aren't left long enough, they come out of hibernation and away they go again.

Anyway, I had to do something about this creature. I thought of the plastic bag trick but the thought of handling it was too much. Besides which, I don't really want to put toads in my freezer. So I grabbed the pan and brush (my mouse catching equipment), scooped the toad up, held it down with the brush and tossed it outside...shudder.

I strongly suspect Oscar of bringing the toad in, as there was no other way for it could get inside. How he wasn't sick is beyond me, but there's nothing wrong with him and he yelled for his breakfast as normal. The exercise must have made him hungrier than usual because he gobbled everything up and got then to stuck into his cat biscuits. Although, he may have been trying to get rid of the taste of toad...whatever, he is now asleep on the bed, totally oblivious to the mayhem he caused my state of wellbeing.

#@*?@!!! cat...!