From the “is that a toad in your beer?” file:

The Australian city of Townsville (the real one, not the Powerpuff Girls one) has landed itself in a bit of hot water over a “Stubby Holder” (aka: the neoprene beer holder/cooler) encouraging people to visit and play a round of “Cane Toad Golf”.

Cane Toads are big toads (some over 5 pounds) with poisonous skin native to Central and South America. They were introduced to Australia in the 1930’s to control sugar cane pests, and now (as it so often goes) they are pests themselves.

Townsville was looking to drum up a little tourism to the North Queensland city with the stubby holder, but Australia’s RSPCA didn’t think it was funny. A spokesman said:

“The RSPCA acknowledges the fact that the cane toad needs to be eliminated ideally but simply whacking a few with golf clubs doesn’t work. Nine times out of ten the cane toad will simply get up and hop away.”

I don’t know how the RSPCA spokesman came by his numbers, but it does make you wonder if there’s a bunch of Aussies knocking back a few cold ones and teeing up toads in order to determine how often they get up and hop away.

Come to think of it, a five pound toad probably is a lot easier to hit than one of those little white balls — especially if you’ve been sampling a few XXXX’s before hand.

Anyone for a round of golf?

» Via ABC News