The common toad's annual spring migration to breeding ponds takes many individuals across roads, causing mass mortality that toad patrol volunteers reduce significantly every year.
Toad road mortality is one of the most direct and quantifiable welfare interventions available to members of the public. A volunteer carrying a bucket of toads across a road on a wet March night is preventing deaths - not potential deaths, but almost certain deaths from passing vehicles. The welfare significance of toad patrol extends beyond individual toads to population sustainability: roads that kill a large proportion of migrating adults are functionally reducing population viability over time. The combined effect of hundreds of active patrol sites represents a significant welfare intervention achieved entirely through volunteer effort.