Cane Toad Racing

A cane toad is a frog that is seen in Australia. It is said that a cane toad was brought into the country mainly to get rid of the beetles that were eating up the crops. Instead of eating the beetles, they consumed everything else. They tend to grow very large in size. People in Australia also like to conduct cane toad racing. In this game, a person is responsible for collecting as many cane toads as possible. All these cane toads are then put in a bucket.

 

Once the cane toads are collected, every cane toad is given a number. Every number is against a name of a person. Sometimes, they also have names of countries. And the person is identified depending on that. A board is put up in the hall where such a competition is taking place. Every cane toad is put in a separate bucket. The person whose number is on the cane toad is supposed to lift the toad and kiss it. Then he or she keeps the bucket in the centre of the floor. Once the competition starts, they lift the bucket and push the cane toad out. This leaves many cane toads on the floor with numbers on their backs. The toad that leaves the floor first is announced as the winner.

 

The winner receives some kind of a reward. Some people argue, saying such games should not be held as it is considered cruel to the cane toad. But, some also say that the cane toad needs to be taken good care of. They should be handled very carefully and, during the course of the competition, should be given freedom and not be harmed. This sport does not require any skill or knowledge as compared to other sports. In fact, humans have no hand in this at all. All that is done is done by the cane toad itself. This may also be considered to be a game of luck since, if the cane toad wants to leave the floor and move award, then it would win the race. Some may not even want to move from the position, but this would depend on each cane toad.

 

People who want to take part in such games need to register their names. Then, they are assigned a number that is placed on the cane toad. Many people have “lucky numbers” — based on house numbers, birthdates and the like — and often pick their toads based on these. Seeing one’s lucky numbers come up is great fun; seeing your toad come last is great fun for the people around you. People come in large numbers just to view this game as it really is a lot of fun. There is a lot of noise and cheering during this game. People blow whistles and clap in order to cheer their respective toads, and it seems that the amount of beer drunk on the day is always proportional to how loudly people cheer and how much fun they have.