Common toads migrate to breeding ponds each spring, crossing roads in large numbers, and volunteer toad patrol schemes prevent thousands of road deaths annually.
Toad patrols represent one of the most direct and accessible forms of wildlife welfare action available to ordinary people. Migrating toads, faithful to ancestral breeding ponds, will cross the same roads every year regardless of traffic. Without intervention, thousands die each spring in road traffic collisions — a significant welfare harm for animals that may be capable of pain experience. Volunteer patrols, operating on a few nights each February and March, collect toads by hand and carry them safely across roads. The impact per hour of volunteering is among the highest of any wildlife welfare activity. This is conservation, welfare and community action combined.