Mood: incredulous
Topic: Media
TWENTY years after Mark Lewis amused us and disturbed us with his inventive documentary about cane toads taking over Australia, the Mullumbimby-based filmmaker is going to revisit the topic. Lewis made some predictions in Cane Toads: An Untold History about how quickly the ugly critter would advance south from Queensland. Now he says he underestimated its spread. "Whatever we throw at it - genetic engineering, viruses, the army, physical barriers such as traps, fences and dogs - nothing seems to work," he says. The South American toad was introduced to sugarcane fields in 1935 from Hawaii in an attempt to control cane beetles. "It is a great story for our times about biological control gone wrong and nature running amok," says Lewis. Hardly a day goes by when he doesn't have to deal with a query about the original 45-minute documentary, an indication of its ongoingpopularity. The new film will be feature length.
Posted by wendellsfrogblog
at 12:21 PM EST