(JustPatriots.com)- Last week, park rangers in Australia’s Conway National Park in Queensland stumbled across what could be the largest toad on record.
The 5.9-pound can toad, dubbed “Toadzilla” by park rangers, was found while park officials were conducting track work in the park.
Queensland’s Department of Environment and Science posted pictures of the freakishly large creature on Twitter last Thursday, saying the rangers “were shocked to find a monster cane toad.”
According to a statement from the department on Friday, ranger Kylee Gray said the team stumbled across the toad when she got out of the vehicle as they stopped to let a snake slither across the track.
Gray said she “couldn’t believe how big and heavy it was” when she picked up the toad which the team dubbed “Toadzilla.” She said they immediately removed it from the wild since a cane toad of its size will eat “anything it can fit into its mouth.”
The toad, believed to be a female since they typically grow larger than male toads, was brought back to the rangers’ base where she was plopped on a scale.
The current Guinness World Record was set in 1991 by a pet toad named Prinsen in Sweden, which weighed 5.12 pounds. So it looks like “Toadzilla” pushed Prinsen out of the top spot.
But Toadzilla won’t be enjoying her record-setting success. The Department of Environment and Science said in its tweet that she had to be euthanized “due to the environmental damage” cane toads cause.
Cane toads, which are native to South and Central America, were first introduced to Australia in 1935 as a biological control against cane beetles. Unfortunately, the plan was a disaster. The cane toads became an invasive and noxious species that had a “devastating impact” on Australia’s native wildlife, according to the Department of Environment and Science.
