Cane toad sausages may be one of the most un-appetising foods imaginable, but researchers say they could be a breakthrough for restoring numbers of endangered quolls.

Dr Jonathan Webb from the Sydney University of Technology is leading a project to turn the Kimberley quoll population off its lethal habit of eating toads. Researchers are trialling the non-lethal cane toad sausages, hoping they will help save the quolls from extinction.

The team began feeding small non-lethal toads coated with a worming agent used on livestock to captive-reared quolls in 2009. The worming agent caused a strong nauseous reaction in the quoll. Researchers say a single bad experience for the quoll created a long lasting effect, with about 90 per cent of the quolls no longer eating cane toads after one night with an upset stomach.

The team now want to use the aversion therapy to save other quoll populations. They plan to inject cane toad sausages with the worming agent and drop them by helicopter in areas not yet inundated by toads, thereby cutting off the quolls taste for toad before it develops.