31 August 2023 , 13:39
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Experts have warned about increasing numbers of tiny red ants that can cause deadly anaphylactic reactions in some humans and kill most small animals.
The marauding colonies of the bugs will become Australia's worst invasive pest if they're not eradicated soon, the experts claimed in a report. According to the strategy paper prepared for government, if the vicious biting red fire ants infest the whole country, one in three Australians, or 8.3 million people, would be painfully stung every year, with 83,100 victims needing medical attention.
Those numbers, the paper warned, are a "conservative" estimate of ants, which have an intense bite that can kill small animals and cause a deadly anaphylactic. They also devastate crops and ecosystems, and colonies will travel serious distances every year if left unchecked.
Although the ant originates in South America, their population has spread globally. It has no native predator in Australia and so authorities there are now very concerned, Nine.com,au reports.
Australia has spent more than two decades desperately trying to keep the ants at bay. In 2001, they were first detected, suspected to have arrived at Port of Brisbane.
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And when a nest was recently detected just 5.5km (3.4miles) from the New South Wales border, the farthest south fire ants have ever been spotted, the Invasive Species Council declared New South Wales to be at "extreme risk" of being invaded.
This is despite the government in Australia spending $366.9million (£187million) altogether between 2001 and 2017 to try to eradicate the ants. The next four years are seen as pivotal to whether the ants will entrench themselves in the country for good.
Sugar cane farmer Robert Hawken said: "These things will spread rapidly if they get into the Murray Darling river system." He explained how the ants have the ability to cling together to form rafts which can then travel unchecked on water.
"They'll float for miles in floodwater and on rivers. So they're very, very difficult to stop once they get going." Winged fire ant queens can fly a couple of kilometres, but can travel much further when blown by wind currents.