Horney toads cause road detour in Philly., page 1

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Topic started on 5-4-2011 @ 12:02 PM by FortAnthem

For three years now, some nature lovers in Philly have been closing down a local road at night to guard the passage of groups of "horney" toads returning to their birthplace to get it on.

Toad Detour is 'point of pride' in Roxborough

Toad migration has begun in upper Roxborough.

As the weather warms, thousands of Philadelphia toads return to their birthplace, the Roxborough Reservoir, to mate.

Sadly, many toads are killed in the final stretch of their journey. They are run over by cars as they hop across Port Royal and Eva streets.

But for the past three years, volunteers have closed down these roads on nights of heavy toad migration, to help them cross the street and inform the community about the animals.

Every night between Mar. 10 and Apr. 15, volunteers meet on the corner of Port Royal and Hagys Mill roads, and begin searching the roads for toads. If they find any, they block off the street using barricades they received from the police and the water department.

Judy Stephenaskie drives all over the area in her green Acura searching for the toads.

Stephenaskie is a bird watcher, and records sighting in the Shawmont area of the Schuylkill River for the yearly log of the Pennsylvania Society of Ornithology.

Every night during toad season, she drives with her high beams on and emergency flashers, stopping to open her door for every piece of debris in the road that might be a toad.

"Just a leaf" she says, closing her door. "That's annoying."

But soon she has spotted two live toads.

She gasps as a car drives over one. Fortunately the tires miss the baseball-sized amphibian.

She pulls her car into the middle of the road to prevent more cars from driving past, and with her bare hands, quickly scoops up the animal and rushes it to the reservoir side of the street.

Networks

One spokesperson for the group claims that one car can kill hundreds of toads, although from the description in the story above, that sounds like an exageration. A car would have to be trying pretty hard to take out that many of these "horney" toads.

What I found interesting about this story is the fact that this road is being closed and enforced by the community group protecting the toads. The article says that they are using barricades they borrowed from the police department but, I wonder what the law says about any "citizen's group" closing down a public street in this manner?

It sounds to me like these people may be putting themselves unnecessarily at risk just to protect a few toads. I know a lot of people who could get very angry if their commute were to be blocked off like this just to protect a few toads. I don't even think there was any mention in the article of the toads even being endangered.

Should a community group be able to close down public roadways to protect wildlife in this manner, even if the wildlife isn't endangered?

reply posted on 5-4-2011 @ 12:18 PM by AeonStorm

But I'm not in Philly!

lol But seriously I always find stories like this interesting. There have been many a vehicle accident due to grasshopper infestation where I live ... and don't get me started on Mosquito's! *shudder* (Yes I've seen them so plentiful that they begin to blind the driver at night).

It's cool how the locals are helping the horney guys out. Even better for the drivers

Also frogs are great for keeping the bug population under control as are dragonfly's and bats.

SnF

AS

PS: Makes you feel all warm and fuzzy when you help goslings and their mama cross a busy road (and find them a home in a wildlife park area when you find out they're lost and confused).

edit on 5-4-2011 by AeonStorm because: ps

reply posted on 5-4-2011 @ 12:18 PM by brindle

A disturbing thread in my eyes.Of course the road needs to be closed.Protecting these frogs is crucial.You could care less about these frogs,and advocate opening the roads,because they are just frogs.These people have love in their heart.But you either care about life or you dont,you cant teach it.

reply posted on 5-4-2011 @ 12:34 PM by FortAnthem

reply to post by brindle

If there were swarms of these toads crossing the road at one time like that spokeswoman suggests, then sure, I would be all for closing the road to protect the toads AND the drivers. Just imagine trying to control your car with hundreds of squashed toads under your wheels.

The problem is, it seems the toads do not cross in the great numbers suggested, just one or two at a time. Shutting down a whole road to protect just a few toads seems like a waste of resources in my mind. If they are so worried, they could catch the toads before they try to cross and take them across themselves. That would seem to be much more efficient to me.

Plus there's the idea of regular everyday people trying to enforce this roadblock. Are they nuts? Don't they know the homicide rate in Philly? Did they ever hear of the term road rage?

I can't believe they're trying this on their own without some type of police involvement. Sure, the city is strapped for cash but I'm sure they would be willing to pitch in a few officers for this if the community group offered to pay for them.

If a community group can close down a public roadway for a bunch of non-endangered frogs, what are they going to try to do next, close the trunpike during deer mating season?

I don't mean to sound heartless toward the poor toads but animals die everyday from cars and that's just the way life is in the world. Besides, there are some animals (crows and such) who rely on the roadkill to support themselves and their families.

Its the circle of life as the Disney folks would say.

reply posted on 5-4-2011 @ 01:01 PM by chasingbrahman

Originally posted by FortAnthem
reply to post by brindle

Plus there's the idea of regular everyday people trying to enforce this roadblock. Are they nuts? Don't they know the homicide rate in Philly? Did they ever hear of the term road rage?

Toad rage, anyone?

Anyone?

(ribbit, ribbit, chirp)

reply posted on 5-4-2011 @ 04:32 PM by pryingopen3rdeye

exactly as i'd expected, your picture is inacurate, that is not a horny toad, it is just a regular toad,

i used to catch these things all the time at my home when i was young, so i knew before hand what they look like,

a simple google image search would have been more accurate then whatever you did to get your image.

google image searchac

^Those are horny toads, notice if you will, they have horns^

edit on 4/5/11 by pryingopen3rdeye because: (no reason given)

edit to add - i see now you got that picture from the article source, that those are the typical toads they are escorting accross the roads, and the choice to add in the word horny was not done by the article, but rather the op here.

for clarity, this thread is not about horny toads, but rather, regular toads that are horny.

edit on 4/5/11 by pryingopen3rdeye because: (no reason given)

reply posted on 5-4-2011 @ 04:39 PM by VenomVile.6

Humm....
The title to this op is missleading to me because out here in the deserts a "horny toad" is a lizard thats in the iguanid family. Not the bufo amphibian lol

Common mistake
and its kool that these lizards squirt blood from the eyes!!!

The horned lizard is popularly called a "horned toad," "horny toad," or "horned frog," but it is neither a toad nor a frog. The popular names.

Kool, none the less !!!

en.wikipedia.org...

edit on 5-4-2011 by VenomVile.6 because: (no reason given)

reply posted on 5-4-2011 @ 04:53 PM by VenomVile.6

The species that I am finding native to that local is the American toad (Anaxyrus americanus)
and the Fowler’s toad (Anaxyrus fowleri)

I wonder which one is causing this much attention for breeding season?
I cant find any info on this?

edit on 5-4-2011 by VenomVile.6 because: (no reason given)

reply posted on 5-4-2011 @ 05:45 PM by Discotech

reply to post by VenomVile.6

Horney as in turned on not as in possessing a horn!

Can't believe people are so innocently naive lol

edit on 5/4/11 by Discotech because: (no reason given)

reply posted on 5-4-2011 @ 06:03 PM by lostsock

I stop for toads!!! They come out around dusk and hop across the streets. Cute lil horny buggers that they are I dont want them to get squished

I also stop for crayfish that wander the streets, snakes and snapping turtles.

I think road blocks are a good idea if they are in mass but in most places it isnt needed.

reply posted on 5-4-2011 @ 06:49 PM by FortAnthem

I checked out the webpage for the toad group and couldn't find out what type of toad it is anywhere on their site.

toaddetour.com

I see they did get a permit from the city to close the road but, I still question the wisdom of a citizen's group taking this on by themselves.

BTW, the site includes dirty pics of the toads making little toads (viewer discretion may be advised

)

Unless there are swarms of toads crossing at once, I think this is going overboard. IMO, the best course of action would be to post signage warning drivers of the toad crossings instead of taking the draconian measure of shutting down the road.

Most drivers (myself included) will always try to avoid hitting a living animal (or even a dead one, ew) in the road and if drivers are made aware of the toad crossings, they would be much more careful driving down that road or may make the decision to avoid the road on their own to protect the toads.

ETA:
reply to post by pryingopen3rdeye

reply to post by VenomVile.6

I knew I should have put the word "horny" in quotes in the title of this thread.

It wasn't meant to mislead, only to indicate the toad's motivation for crossing the road.

edit on 4/5/11 by FortAnthem because: