Toxic shock as dogs bite toadies

MICHELLE HERBISON
QUEENSCLIFF’S dog beach will display signs warning dog owners of poisonous toadfish within two weeks, according to the Borough of Queenscliffe.
The move follows an investigation by the Independent after a dog was hospitalised for the second time in six weeks after eating one of the deadly fish.
Borough of Queenscliffe’s Phil Josipovic said council workers would “take an extra pro-active approach” to protecting animals and children on the beach.
“We will put up warning signs because it’s better to be safe than sorry,” he said.
Newtown vet Jane Miller said even when dead, toadfish contained the deadly poison tetrodotoxin which caused convulsions and paralysis when ingested by animals and children.
“Death can be really rapid and a lot of animals don’t make it to the vet in time. They have a very nasty smell so dogs are attracted to them,” she said.
South Geelong’s Elly McDonald told the Independent her parents’ two-year-old standard poodle would be confined to a lead for the rest of summer after having her stomach pumped last week.
“She needs a lot of exercising but there is nowhere else we can go where somebody doesn’t have a problem with us being there.”
Ms McDonald said she suspected the dead toadfish were washing up on Queenscliff’s beach after fishermen threw them overboard.
But Queenscliff Fishing Charters skipper Tim Biviano denied recreational fishermen were at fault.
“We come in close to the Queenscliff dog beach, but we’re trawling for salmon. At no stage is it ever possible for us to catch a pufferfish while we’re doing that,” he said.
“Because Queenscliff is at the start of the bay, a lot of things wash up on the beaches.
“A pufferfish washed up on the beach could have come from anywhere because they float.”
Fisheries Victoria’s Travis Dowling said the agency had no reports of fishermen dumping dead toadfish in Queenscliff’s waters but some fishermen had killed the fish instead of returning them.
“It’s an offence under fisheries regulations to intentionally kill and discard toadfish in Victorian waters, rather than return them to the water with the least possibly of injury,” Mr Dowling said.