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As a fourth Far North Queensland site has been declared free of yellow crazy ants, the Wet Tropics Management Authority is seeking ongoing support for its eradication program to continue beyond the end of this financial year.
Yellow Crazy Ants are one of the world’s top 100 most invasive pests, and the Wet Tropics Management Authority has been leading an eradication program within and adjacent to the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area.
Almost five years after an infestation of the ants was detected on a 3.1-hectare site in the Mount Peter area, the pests have now been officially stamped out.
Since May 2017 the block has been treated twice, followed by six surveys using a variety of methods, including working with odour detection dogs.
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Executive Director Scott Buchanan said the overall occurrence of yellow crazy ants has decreased dramatically since the program began in 2013.
“The four eradication sites are just the beginning,” he said.
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“Some 1,534 hectares of previously infested areas have now been transitioned to spot treatments and long-term monitoring to confirm eradication.”
However, with joint funding from the Queensland and Australian governments due to run out on 30 June, the Authority is seeking ongoing support for the program to continue until 2028.
"If this is granted for an additional six years, our modelling shows that in that time we will have eradicated almost 90 per cent of the current known infestation,” Mr Buchanan said.
“We continue to improve and innovate and have recently acquired an additional two odour detection dogs, Luna and Pretzel, to join Fury.
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The Authority is looking forward to the arrival of a fourth odour detection dog later this year and has established an odour production room, housing live colonies of yellow crazy ants at the Authority’s operations base to help train the dogs.
The success of the program is also built on increasing community awareness in how to identify yellow crazy ants.
If you suspect you have them in your area, call 1800 CRAZY ANT.
This article was originally published in the February/March issue of Tropic magazine.
Main points
- A fourth Far North Queensland site has been cleared of Yellow Crazy Ants
- The ants are one of the world’s top 100 most invasive pests
- The Wet Tropics Management Authority is seeking funding to continue its eradication program beyond this year
