The Western Leopard toad is classified as endangered by the IUCN as it lives within a very small part of the Western Cape. The Western Leopard Toads are in urgent need of conservation and there are various groups and volunteers working towards a comprehensive conservation management system.

The Toad NUTS (Noordhoek Unpaid Toad Savers) are a group of volunteers with the aim of saving the endangered Western Leopard Toad from extinction.

We work together with other volunteer groups in Cape Town (South Africa) and are supported by the WLT-CC (Western Leopard Toad Conservation Comittee)

Feel free to join their website and stay up to date with your Toad news! You can also contact your area co-ordinator to volunteer for up and coming toad events in your area! Please share your toad encounters and photos with them! www.toadnuts.ning.com

Herewith the latest news update from Suzie - the Noordhoek Co--ordinator about toads on the move.

Hundreds of tiny little toadlets as small as my finger nail have started the begining of their terrestrial life with an overwhelming 1 kilometer hike from the breeding ponds to our gardens.

Please don't take them back to the pond!!! Can you imagine hiking all the way up Table Mountain only for somebody to pick you up and take you back to the beginning for you to do it all over again!

If they are leaving the pond, then it means that they are in search of food and shelter in a garden within 1 kilometer of the breeding pond. They will carry on hiking until they've found that suitable spot with not many of their siblings around them to reduce competition for food and shelter.

If you are lucky enough to have them in your garden, please ensure that your garden is a safe haven for them and only move them out of danger but not far away from where you find them.. they are migratory animals and are remembering where they go from the get-go!

This is how you can help:

Please check your swimming pools every morning for toadlets especially after rain
Check courtyards/walled obstacles where they get stuck in and frizzle out in the sun
Check gutters and drainpipes where they fall down and can't get out
Check driveways when they are migrating to not run them over as you drive out (only during rain)
Put a rock at the step of your pool and a piece of polystyrene in your pool sump
Remove your pool skimmer for the next month or two
Don't mow your grass for the next month especially on rainy days
Throw some veggie scraps in your garden.. at this size they eat the tiny mites that eat the veggies
Lay piles of wood in your garden, this creates shelter from the heat as well as food with mites that eat the decaying wood
Install a toadsaver on a sunny day
Call your area co-ordinator for assistance! Noordhoek: Suzie 0824761016