It was quickly scooped up and taken to Hunter Local Land Services at Tocal where a veterinarian identified it as a young female cane toad.

Luckily, she was too young to lay eggs.

You might not realise just how extremely fortunate that is.

Hunter LLS Regional Weeds Coordinator Matt Kennedy, who has extensive experience dealing with cane toads, said a male and female - of breeding age - had to be in the same place at the same time in order to reproduce.

Their breeding needs, and the fact that our winters are too cold for them, are the only things stopping the Hunter region from starting its own cane toad family.

And after how they have thrived in Queensland and Northern NSW, it's certainly not something Mr Kennedy wants to see unfolding here.

He said the conditions are so ideal in Queensland that the toads can breed throughout the year.

While there is at least one cane toad sighting each month or two between the MidCoast, Hunter and Central Coast areas, Mr Kennedy doesn't believe there is a breeding population here.

"We are periodically getting them. We had one around January in Cooranbong, we had one in Forster this year, last year we had some in Lake Macquarie, Muswellbrook and Port Stephens in Salamander Bay," Mr Kennedy said.

"We are on alert. When these come through we want people to report them properly because we want to make sure we are on it.

"If we found a female that did have eggs, or had recently laid eggs, that indicates we have a bunch of tadpoles somewhere.

"The ones we have had come back to us are either males or juvenile females or females with eggs still in them, which means they haven't laid.

Mr Kennedy said the toads often took a free ride on vehicles, caravans or came amongst other goods, to make their way south.

"They are popping up out of sugar cane mulch deliveries, terracotta pots, mulch deliveries, soil, woodchip and in other materials that have been harvested or processed in Northern NSW or Queensland," he said.

The cane toad found in Rutherford was euthanised.

Anyone who sees a cane toad is required by law to notify Local Land Services or the NSW Department of Primary Industries.

The LLS has published a new book to help people learn the ins and outs of cane toads and how to spot them - so they aren't confused with native frogs. Click here for the free book.

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