Crazy ants just 800m from Cairns’ dam Funds needed to stop spread of acid-throwing pest

SENATE BACKS ACTION

THE Senate has adopted a resolution by North Queenslandbased Senator Ian Macdonald to have the state and federal governments commit to eradication of yellow crazy ants in the Wet Tropics. The motion calls upon the Queensland Government to, at least, match Commonwealth funding and asks both governments to commit to eradication. It also acknowledges the work already done by Wet Tropics Management Authority, the Cairns Regional Council, the Federal Government’s Green Army, and landowners and volunteers. Senator Macdonald said he was delighted the Senate had recognised the danger of the super colony hazards of the ants. “This infestation is a real danger to the natural ecology, to agriculture, and to people,” he said. YELLOW crazy ants are only 800m away from invading Cairns’ main water supply, where they could be spread right across the city, causing widespread destruction.

James Cook University researchers Dr Lori Lach and Dr Conrad Hoskin have pleaded for authorities to commit further funding to eradicating the acid-throwing insects from the Wet Tropics’ rainforests.

In the latest edition of magazine Wildlife Australia, the scientists claim the ants are within 800m of the catchment for Copperlode Dam, the water supply for the Cairns region.

“That means if we stopped treatments now, the ants could be in the catchment – and therefore forever beyond eradication with current methods – in as little as two years,’’ they wrote.

“For eradication of yellow crazy ants from the Wet Tropics to continue to be feasible, additional funding must come soon.

“The world heritage values at stake are surely worth much more than the $1.9 million currently allocated.”

The Wet Tropics Management Authority, which currently manages the ant eradication program, is seeking more than $5 million a year for the next three years from all levels of government to prevent the pest species from spreading further.

The researchers wrote that despite the extraordinarily special values of the World Heritage-listed area, the effort to eradicate yellow crazy ants had been “sporadic, slow and underfunded”, with success far from guaranteed.

They said the $1.9 million federal funding awarded to WTMA was not enough to do the job.

“The expansion of the treatment area has overstretched the budget, leaving little money to measure treatment effectiveness, delimit infestation boundaries, look for new infestations, or engage with the community,” they said. “A difficult decision has just been made to focus on containment rather than eradication while treatment is finetuned and more resources are sought.”

Cairns Mayor Bob Manning acknowledged yellow crazy ants as a “big nuisance”, but their management was the domain of the Queensland Government.

He said the council would investigate the scientists’ claims about the proximity of infestations to the city’s dam.

“We’ll check it out, but at this stage we’re not going to panic about it,’’ he said.

Queensland-based LNP Senator James McGrath, who has witnessed the devastating super colonies of ants near Cairns, said he would continue to encourage Environment Minister Greg Hunt to find the necessary funds to support the eradication program.

“Yellow crazy ants scare me and they should scare you,’’ he said.