Licking toads has become a trend amongst National Park visitors looking to get a high. With the rise of visitors licking toads, the National Park Service has had to drop the unusual warning.
“As we say with most things you come across in a national park, whether it be a banana slug, unfamiliar mushroom, or a large toad with glowing eyes in the dead of night, please refrain from licking,” the agency wrote.
The warning was posted on the National Park Service Facebook page and specifically applies to the Sonoran desert toad, aka the Colorado river toad. “These toads have prominent parotoid glands that secrete a potent toxin. It can make you sick if you handle the frog or get the poison in your mouth,” the agency wrote.
Despite the warning, people have been seeking out the toad because it contains a hallucinogenic substance called 5-MeO-DMT. The secretions can lead to a trip but can also “cause severe irritation, pain and tissue damage.” A lick or two can cause “numbness of the mouth and throat as well as severe and life-threatening effects on the heart.”
The toad is now considered a threatened species in New Mexico due in part to “overcollecting” by people seeking the amphibian’s secretions. The toad is one of the nation’s largest, averaging about seven inches in length.
Source: https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=503416565159338&set=a.227456602755337