Government sanctioned response to overpopulation-- Euthanazia

It's a sad day when actual news reminds me of a Simpsons episode-- though maybe that just means that The Simpsons is educating the public between familial spats?-- in any case I just read an article on "Toad Day Out" in the Australian province of Queensland. Apparently there is a crazy overpopulation of toads in the country which threatens the livelihood of farmers and many native species [Marge discusses it with Australians]. The official solution has become an evening event where residents hunt the toads and bring them to officials the following day for weighing and euthanasia.

The article can be viewed here for more specific information. It's worth a quick read if only for the perspective of those involved. For instance, a city official had this to say about the event:

"To see the look on the faces of the kids as we were handling and weighing the toads and then euthanizing them was just...," Townsville City Councilman Vern Veitch said, breaking off to let out a contented sigh. "The children really got into the character of the event." (The Associated Press @ctv.ca)

There are no words for how disturbing that statement is in view of the fact that they are performing the euthanasia on perfectly healthy animals and en masse. That said, I'm not sure I can condemn an initiative in which the local population attends to a problem together and in which the animals are humanely killed. Based on The Simpsons I was expecting something a little bit more like this:



Your thoughts?