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Park Service Pleads with Public to Stop Licking Toads

In a move sure to frustrate any enchanted princes cursed by evil witches, the National Park Service issued a warning in October 2022 to warn people about kissing, licking, or making any kind of oral contact with toads.

Apparently the Sonoran desert toad, also known as the Colorado river toad, secretes a white, milky substance called bufotenin, which scientists say can act as a hallucinogenic. This has prompted a series of celebrities who have talked about ingesting the substance as a way of inducing a psychedelic trip. Through exaggeration and repetition, the idea has morphed into the possibility that someone could get high simply by licking one of these toads.

In an abundance of caution, the Park Service decided to put that myth to rest in a post on its Facebook account:

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. 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. Thank you.

Possible Preaching Angle:

1) Animals - When people use animals in ways contrary to their purpose, they abuse them and also hurt themselves in the process . 2) Addiction; Bondage; Drugs – This is more evidence how people misuse nature because of their addiction to pleasure and which ultimately results in their own harm.

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