iH: Did you breed any reptiles?
very old, and had just one eye. Then one day I went to
collect the mail, and found my box overflowing with
PK: In those days, there was very little reptile breeding in requests for toads - Hohnke had retired!
Australia - it was still in its infancy. We did breed blue-
tongues and Pink-tongued Skinks.
I sold 20,000 toads a year to educational institutions - I
even exported them. For 28 years I collected and sold
iH: Then you left the reptile park in 1971?
toads; I didn’t make a lot of money, but I did make a
living out of it. Bob Irwin (Steve’s father) was supplying
PK: Yes. After I got divorced (amicably) I needed to get toads to Western Australia, but then he chucked it in and I
away and have a change, so
started supplying them as
I used my connections in
well. Western Australia had
New Guinea to assemble a
stringent rules, and you had
consignment of animals,
to use metal boxes. The
which I took by air to
toad business is not the
Germany. Coincidentally,
same now as it was in the
Wilhelma Zoo, where I had
1980s.
trained, was a government
quarantine station, so the
iH: What is your take on
animals all went there. The
the Cane Toad problem?
zoo bought almost the entire collection.
PK: In a nutshell, it is most unfortunate that they were
The pilot who had flown me in to Iron Range also dealt in introduced, and people should have known better. Where
real estate, and he had told me about a beaut spot of rain- toads have had an impact, the damage has been done.
forest for sale in Upper Barron, so when I returned to
What happens from now on is a process of integration,
Australia, I went and camped there, along with my new
and the animals the toads didn’t kill have started to learn
partner. Of course I needed some way of supporting
to live with them. Many animals can eat toads, including
myself, and I did some tour guiding for wealthy European some snakes, like keelbacks. Northern Quolls have
and American tourists. I also explored the possibility of
adjusted too; they seem to know not to eat the toads.
providing Cane Toads to universities and other
Some people claim the whole of the Cane Toad’s body is
institutions, but was told that they had to be loyal to their poisonous, but occasionally we barbeque the legs, and
long-standing supplier, a Mr Hohnke, who was apparently they’re delicious!
‘Suddenly, my mailbox
was overflowing with
requests for toads - I sold
20,000 A YEAR!’
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