Toad-lovers to the rescue as builders take over rare habitat

A NEW development in Bergvliet has sent conservationists scrambling to save an endangered species of toad.

Members of the Western Leopard Toad Conservation Committee were out in full force to move the toads and other small fauna away from the development site.

Mark Day, committee project co-coordinator for awareness, volunteers and census operations, said he wanted people to understand the significance of the animals that could be living on their property.

"There's a lot of biodiversity in the city that people don't consider worthy or important, and we are just trying to change the mindset of people," Day said.

"People need to understand that there are important small fauna in their gardens in the suburbs."

The development was due to start today but has been briefly delayed.

The delay, though, is because of city planning requirements rather than the toads.

However, the committee's volunteers said they would continue to move the toads to neighbouring wetlands where they would have a greater chance of survival.

The endangered toads are limited to a small breeding area in Cape Town, and housing developments are causing their habitat to shrink even further.

"The toads have an extremely small distribution, limiting them to the southern and eastern areas of Cape Town and the Cape Peninsula," Day said.

"The Cape Town distribution extends from Observatory in the north to Glencairn in the south, east on to the Cape Flats in Philippi and west in Hout Bay.

"And then there are tiny populations in the Overstrand and Gansbaai."

Day added that there were only 52 breeding sites for the toads in Cape Town.

Cape Argus

Posted at 09:44AM Feb 02, 2010 by Editor in Residential  |  Comments[3]