Signs, posters and training used to combat fire ants

  • 2012-09-30
In what will be a welcome piece of news to local residents, Biosecurity Queensland Control Centre has spoken to the media within the last month to dispel rumours that fire ants are rapidly spreading from Queensland to New South Wales.

The director of the Control Centre, Neil O'Brien, told Emma Galliott of the Northern Rivers Echo that the ants' furthest penetration south so far has been Logan Village, which is around 80 kilometres north of the border.

The Queensland and Federal governments have both injected a considerable amount of money into the attempts to eradicate the ants, although many farmers in areas such as Belmont, Durack, and Slacks Creek are still waiting for ant-free days to return.

As a result of eradication campaigns, the number of fire ant colonies detected in Queensland fell from 65,000 to 500 between 2001 and 2010. In 2011, in an effort to locate the ants in the Logan region, a mobile road sign was moved around the area to encourage residents to report any colonies that they see. There are also training sessions run by Biosecurity Queensland at their Control Centre in Oxley, which are open to volunteer fire ant rangers and those enlisted in business and government fire ant campaigns.

Brochure printers have produced information material for participants in the training and there has also been some high-quality poster printing carried out to help trigger public participation in the continued effort to stamp out the pests.