Elephants 'would be a 10-tonne cane toad'



ELEPHANTS could become the "10-tonne cane toads" of the Australian outback if they were introduced to control invasive grasses, an environmental group says.

In an article published in the journal Nature today, Tasmanian scientist David Bowman proposes allowing the enormous mammals to roam through Australia's savannas to control the African pest gamba grass.

But the Pew Environmental Group says unleashing elephants could be disastrous.

"Unmanaged fire and invasive pests are some of the biggest threats to the native plants and animals of the outback," Patrick O'Leary from group said in a statement today.

"But the solution is already in our own backyard and the last thing our unique landscape needs is the equivalent of a 10-tonne cane toad flattening the countryside."

Mr O'Leary said other options, such as greater funding for indigenous rangers, were a better way of controlling pest plants and animals.



"Indigenous rangers have stopped noxious weeds like Mimosa from expanding from the Northern Territory into the Kimberley," Mr O'Leary said.

"We do know how to control pests like gamba grass. It's not too late at all - that's a furphy - but we have to have a coordinated, scientific and properly funded approach."

Professor Bowman, an environmental change biologist at the University of Tasmania, wrote that wild elephants could fight invasive pests and reduce fire hazards.


With around five per cent of the continent burnt in bushfires last year, the introduction of large animals could help reduce the amount of the flammable gamba grass that is widespread in northern areas, Prof Bowman writes in the article.

"It is too big for marsupial grazers (kangaroos) and for cattle and buffalo.

"But gamba grass is a great meal for elephants or rhinoceroses," he writes.

"The idea of introducing elephants may seem absurd, but the only other methods likely to control gamba grass involve using chemicals or physically clearing the land, which would destroy the habitat."

Elephants 'would be a 10-tonne cane toad' | Herald Sun