TPW TV: Endangered Houston Toad
Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Wildlife Restoration Program
Witness efforts to understand and protect the endangered Houston Toad this month on the Texas Parks and Wildlife television series. Producer, Abe Moore.
They used to be all the way from Houston to Bastrop, but now they’re just in little pockets. So, we went out with some biologists to try and find some Houston toads in some ponds.
[Frog calls] So, it’s the unicorn in the woods. I mean, this is the thing that no one can find, and yet, at the same time, this is an animal that makes three thousand eggs at a time.
What we found while we were doing the story was that the Houston Zoo is working with biologists by raising baby toads—little Houston toadlets.
Our role in the Houston Toad recovery plan is one of kind of last resort. We’re starting to form a captive assurance colony, basically, and that is a, uh, like a failsafe against the extinction of the Houston Toad in the wild.
While we were out there, I was amazed at how big these toads were. They were fat and happy.
Some are kind of larger than what you’d expect.[shakes container of crickets] We’ve probably got about three or four thousand crickets in this container right here. We go through in the moment about six thousand a week.
So that’s on Texas Parks and Wildlife television the first or second week of December.
Thanks, Abe. Better check your local listings.
That’s our show… with support from the Wildlife Restoration Program…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.
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February 2nd, 2009 at 7:22 pm
I’ve lived in Houston over 25 years and until this have never heard of the Houston Toad. I’m glad thre is an effort to keep them from total extinctions. It’s hard for many species to survive now because so much of their habitat is being destroyed by building on it. They just don’t have many places to live anymore. I’m not a usually a fan of toads, or of frogs, but I think these little guys deserve to live.
March 10th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
I’m sorry but toads are icky. If I never see one again I wouldn’t miss them. But I must say efforts to keep all of our animals, insects…all species for that matter, from being extinct is a wonderful cause. Let’s face it, who likes bees..they sting. But we need them.