Pubdate: Sat, 07 Dec 2002
Source: Reuters (Wire)
Copyright: 2002 Reuters Limited
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/area/Netherlands

Police Hunt Hallucinogenic Toad Thief

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch police are investigating whether drug
addicts raided a pet shop and stole three exotic toads whose warty
skin can induce hallucinations when licked.

The animals were snatched from a pet shop near a drug addicts' center
in the city of Leeuwarden in the northeast of the Netherlands on Wednesday.

"There has been quite a bit of trouble with junkies and there is a
drugs crisis center near the shop, so it is quite possible, naturally
we are looking in that direction too," police spokesman Harry Oenema
told Reuters.

"They are an exotic kind of toad that secrete a substance. If you lick
them you may get a hallucination, comparable with a trip on LSD," he
added.

The fist-sized brown cane toads, from the bufo marinus species, are
originally from South America and secrete a toxin from glands on their
necks and backs as a defense against predators. They have been
introduced in Australia to combat a plague of greyback beetles.

Licking the toads can cause side effects like swelling of the tongue
and temporary muscle paralysis, according to the pet shop owner.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake