Revealed: Why fire ant program will work with police

The National Fire Ant Eradication Program has revealed they will bring police with them to certain areas where fire ants are being treated with bait. Find out more.

The peak body charged with ridding Australia of fire ants is at loggerheads with a “small” group of Gold Coast land owners refusing to have their properties treated.

The National Fire Ant Eradication Program (NFAEP) has promised they will “access and treat” all properties that are in the eradication zones on the Coast, bringing in police to help.

General manager of the NFAEP Marni Manning said, in a statement this week that a small minority of people are not supporting the treatment program.

“We remain extremely grateful for the strong support we receive from the community. Over 99 per cent of people support fire ant eradication treatment and understand the importance of our work – a small minority do not.

“This group is putting the future of our country at risk, and we cannot stand back and let this happen.

“Unfortunately, this small group of individuals is actively blocking our teams from treating fire ants. They are spreading misinformation about the safety of our treatment approaches and downplaying the potential impacts of fire ants.

“The information they are sharing is incorrect and dangerous,” she said.

Residents have been displaying these signs in an attempt to keep fire ant officers off their properties.

The NFAEP confirmed the Queensland Police Service was now on board to help treat the properties of those landholders who are currently refusing.

“Starting today, fire ant eradication and compliance officers will work alongside the Queensland Police Service to gain access to properties occupied by individuals obstructing this critical national eradication effort,” NFAEP wrote in the statement.

“These actions follow prior attempts to work with these landholders and are now necessary to protect our community and prevent the spread of fire ants.

“This operation will focus on a small number of individuals who, despite repeated requests over several months, continue to deny access to their properties without reasonable justification, posing a threat to the broader community.

“These refusals jeopardise community safety and undermine the eradication effort.”

Federal, state and local government authorities have been working to eradicate the dangerous pests which can destroy land and have a dangerous bit which can cause severe allergic reactions and in the worst case, death.

They have been slowly marching south through the Gold Coast, down the Tweed region. The Bulletin recently revealed a new report had warned the cost of these ants to Gold Coast households was tipped to reach $15 million.

The Australian Institute report estimates fire ants could cause six deaths, trigger 116,000 medical visits and sting households with extra costs from medical expenses to pet care.

Some critics of the treatment program say the bait is making animals sick if they come into contact with it.

However the NFAEP states: “The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority finds fire ant treatments pose no significant risks to people, animals, or the environment when used as directed.

“Fire ants pose a much greater risk to the health of native animals and pets, particularly those that spend time outdoors or like to sniff around.”

The National Fire Ant Eradication Program has revealed they will work with police to ensure all areas of fire ant zones are treated with bait. Picture: Supplied

However, Dr Michael O’Donoghue said he has seen many cases of sick pets coming through the veterinary clinic.

“We haven’t seen any animals being bitten by fire ants at all, there’s been no reports of that but we certainly have a lot of animal come in sick from this fire ant bait.

“Quite a lot of dogs had come in, vomiting, lethargic, not wanting to eat and when a dog comes in like that we try and find out if there is potential toxicity in their diet, or any other possible environmental cause.

“Certainly a lot of cases where there was no other obvious association with any toxicity and fire any bait being placed in the location couple of days beforehand.

“It’s hard to prove these things,” he said.

Originally published as Revealed: Why fire ant program will work with police