TERRITORIANS are being offered free beer in return for live cane toads.
The RSPCA, Coopers Brewery and the Cavenagh Hotel have teamed up in the name of animal welfare and the result is that toads can be turned into beer.
In a move designed to turn seasoned Top End beer drinkers into lean, mean, toad-catching machines, the three
Darwin organisations have got together to set up a toad-for-beer exchange.
Anyone over the age of 18 who captures a toad and delivers it alive to the
Darwin RSPCA qualifies for a glass of icy cold Coopers beer at the Cavenagh Hotel.
``Everyone who takes a cane toad to the RSPCA to be disposed of humanely gets a voucher for a free pot of Coopers ale at the Cav,'' Coopers Brewery's NT sales executive Sean Gould said.
He said there would be a beer for each toad _ up to a limit of six a day.
``It's an idea we had from the locally-produced movie Bufo Marinators that screened at the Cav last week,'' Mr Gould said.
The film, which featured a posse of toad hunters and a simulated orgy of bufo killing, caused quite a fuss.
``We want to encourage the humane treatment of animals,'' acting chief executive of RSPCA
Darwin Lindsay Wilkinson said yesterday.
``If you get a free Coopers out of it then it's a bonus.''
Cavenagh Hotel general manager Brett Simmonds said: ``It's all about the toads, not about the beer.'' But the toads must be alive.
``No coupons for squashed toads,'' Mr Wilkinson said.
He was keen to make it clear he wasn't starting a roadkill collection. ``Healthy, live, no squashed cane toads,'' he said.
And Mr Simmonds agreed, saying the deal was ``fresh toads for fresh beer''.
While the toad catchers are enjoying their cold ale, the RSPCA will be busy euthanasing the toads with sodium pentobarbitone, an overdose of barbituates administered with a few drops on the skin that kills toads immediately.
``It's the most humane way to kill an animal,'' Mr Wilkinson said.
``They just go to sleep.''
But beer fiends shouldn't get too worked up.
Mr Simmonds said there would be a six-pot maximum per person per day.
``The idea is to get people catching toads and taking them for humane disposal, not to get people too drunk,'' Mr Simmonds said.
``If you take six toads in to the RSPCA, you get six vouchers. If you take 100 toads, you get six vouchers.''
But he's worried people will get the wrong idea and deliver a bucket load of toads to his pub hoping to trade them for a few cold ones.
Mr Simmonds said no one would get a beer for taking a toad to the pub.
He said the toads must be taken to the RSPCA at 80 Boulter Rd Berrimah between 1pm and 5pm on weekdays.
Vouchers for the promotion will be valid until April 30.
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wonder if it will work with feral cats.....