ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, September 3, 1996 TAG: 9609030077
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE
SOURCE: Associated Press
MEMO: NOTE: Below
BUFO, THE 3-POUND AMPHIBIAN, was purchased for a class two years ago. Its escape from the teacher led to the poisoning death of a dog.
A 3-pound toad whose run-in with a German shepherd dog led to the dog's death is on the loose in Albemarle County.
The foot-long, brown and bumpy amphibian disappeared from its owner, Jean Foss, in June.
The toad appeared Aug. 24 in Andy Van Der Loo's yard in Charlottesville's Camelot subdivision.
Van Der Loo saw his 11-year-old dog, Duke, carrying the toad around in his mouth and noticed that the amphibian was covered in a white film. He quickly wrestled the toad away and threw it over his fence.
Within 10 minutes, Van Der Loo said, Duke became disoriented, began having convulsions and vomiting blood. He later was put to sleep.
``I don't make a habit of killing toads,'' said Van Der Loo. ``Had I known it was poisonous, I would have tried sooner, and harder, to get it away.''
Foss, a biology teacher at Western Albemarle High School, was keeping the toad at home during the summer. Bufo - short for the toad's species name Bufo marianus - was bought for school use in the fall of 1994.
When Bufo escaped from its 4-foot-high cage, Foss wasn't worried and saw no need to notify neighbors. When she couldn't find it, she assumed it was dead because the animal had been hand-fed.
She said she never considered Bufo to be dangerous.
``We didn't realize this could have happened,'' Foss said. ``I wouldn't have purchased it if I had known.''
Steve Ferguson, a state game warden assigned to Albemarle County, said the amphibian - a South American giant marine toad - is only dangerous when handled. It does not attack. The toad is big, slow and docile, he said.
But, like all toads, it secretes a poison in its skin that, because of its size, can be lethal, said Capt. Mike Bise of the state Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
The poison is dangerous only if swallowed, said Bise.
``We're not so concerned about humans; you'd almost have to put your hands to your mouth immediately,'' Bise said. Pets are in more danger because they don't know what they're dealing with.
The game department has put up fliers and neighbors are keeping an eye out for the lethal toad.
``We've got a lot of children running around,'' said Camelot resident Bobbi Vincent. ``I have a 3-year-old daughter. If she saw a frog, she'd run over and hug it.''
Van Der Loo's wife, Willy, said she wishes the Fosses had let their neighbors know the toad was on the loose.
``Why didn't she warn anybody?'' Van Der Loo said. ``My God. How many people could it have hurt?''
LENGTH: Medium: 60 linesby CNB