Critically endangered natterjack toad reintroduced to special habitats in Kerry to avoid going extinct

The natterjack is not only Ireland’s rarest amphibian, it is the country’s most endangered amphibian species.

As if that were not enough, it also has one of the highest mortality rates in the wild, with nine out of every 10 toadlets falling victim to human activity or animal predators.

Now a dedicated campaign of habitat protection and stock reintroduction is helping the natterjack to avoid following the wolf, bear and other Irish species into extinction.

After 2010, the natterjack was restricted to just a few small pockets of habitat in Kerry.

However, a special breeding programme run by Fota Wildlife Park in Co Cork and the NPWS is helping boost numbers.

A conservation scheme has been undertaken by the NPWS and the Government to compensate farmers for creating and maintaining suitable breeding habitats on their land.

The scheme has had a significant uptake and, in a major boost, many of the newly created pond habitats have provided ‘homes’ for the toads.

Last weekend, 200 young toads were introduced in Kerry. They had been specially bred at Fota so they could be reintroduced to specific habitats in Kerry to boost local numbers.

Castlemaine and Castlegregory were the remaining holdouts of the natterjack, but it is hoped the breeding programme will allow them to recolonise other areas of wetland in the county.

NPWS official and zoologist Dr Ferdia Marnell said the natterjack is important as a barometer of the overall health of Irish ponds and wetlands.

“They are a very important part of the food web as well as the aquatic and terrestrial environment,” he said.

“They are an indicator of the health of our environment and also play an important role for humans in controlling insect numbers by eating flies, midges and bugs.”

Natterjacks prefer shallow, sunny ponds for feeding and breeding. Such habitats also allow them to evade their many predators, ranging from herons to foxes and otters.

Seven-thousand toadlets have been released since the breeding programme was launched in 2016. More than 1,600 were released in Castlegregory alone.

Fota director Sean McKeown said no one ever imagined in 1983 when Fota began operations that it would one day be required to help breed critically endangered Irish species.

So great has been the demand to help indigenous species that Fota’s next major development will be an area of the park dedicated to Irish wildlife in danger of extinction.

Corncrakes, grey partridges, curlews, natterjack toads and other vulnerable creatures such as the red squirrel are being bred in a bid to support populations in the wild that have virtually collapsed.

Fota works closely with the NPWS on such programmes, helping to incubate eggs recovered from damaged nests, providing bred birds to support vulnerable local populations and checking the DNA of birds to ensure a healthy genetic pool.