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Queenslanders urged to watch for fire ant rafts as they take advantage of floods

The Invasive Species Council is warning south-east Queensland residents to be on the lookout for fire ants and floating fire ant rafts as heavy rain and flash flooding hit parts of the region.

Fire ants can survive floods by linking their bodies together to form large floating rafts containing thousands of ants, including queens. These rafts can travel with floodwaters and establish new nests when they reach dry ground.

The flooding comes at a critical point in Australia’s fire ant eradication effort, with recent detections continuing to demonstrate how easily the highly invasive pest can spread and the national program’s current funding due to run out in June next year.

‘Fire ants are incredible survivors. When their nests flood, thousands of ants can link together to form floating rafts and travel with the water,’ Invasive Species Council Advocacy Director Reece Pianta said.

‘We saw exactly this after ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred last year, when fire ant rafts were spotted floating on floodwaters in south-east Queensland.

‘With flash flooding hitting parts of the region again today, we’re asking Queenslanders to be on the lookout.

‘Floodwaters give fire ants another way to spread, carrying entire colonies into backyards, parks, paddocks and other areas where they can establish in new places.

‘As floodwaters recede, we’re asking Queenslanders to keep an eye out for fire ants and their nests and report anything suspicious.

‘People should also be extremely careful around floating clumps of ants. Fire ant rafts can contain thousands of ants that will aggressively defend themselves if disturbed.

‘Don’t touch them or put yourself, your clothing or belongings into direct contact with the ants.

‘We know from experience that when treatment gaps open up, fire ants take advantage of them. Flooding creates another opportunity for these ants to move and establish in new places.

‘Australia still has a real opportunity to eradicate fire ants, but that requires sustained treatment, surveillance and funding.

‘The good news is the eradication program is making real progress. Fire ant numbers have been driven down dramatically in treated areas, the infestation boundary has started moving inward and dangerous outlier infestations have been eradicated.

‘But the national program’s current funding runs out in June next year.

‘Australia’s agriculture ministers have agreed fire ants can still be eradicated and that eradication is in the national interest. Now treasurers need to back that commitment with the funding needed to finish the job.

‘Until we eradicate fire ants, floods, freight and queen flights will continue to create opportunities for them to escape into new areas.

‘Right now, the most important thing Queenslanders can do is stay safe around floodwaters and, once the water recedes, keep an eye out for fire ants and report anything suspicious.’

Residents who think they have spotted fire ants or their nests should photograph them from a safe distance and report them to the National Fire Ant Eradication Program by calling 13 22 68 (132 ANT) or reporting online.

Media inquiries: (02) 8006 5004

Image credit: Eli Sarnat

Background:

  • Fire ants are dark reddish-brown with a darker black-brown abdomen and range from two to six millimetres long. Their nests can appear as mounds of loose, crumbly or fluffy-looking soil, often with no obvious entrance holes.
  • During floods, fire ants can link together to form floating rafts containing thousands of ants and queens, allowing colonies to survive inundation and move with floodwaters.
  • Fire ants can sting people, pets and livestock, kill native animals, damage crops and agricultural equipment and have major impacts on ecosystems.
  • The National Fire Ant Eradication Program is currently funded until June 2027. Governments are considering the next phase of the national eradication response.
  • Agriculture ministers have agreed that eradication remains feasible, cost-beneficial and in the national interest.
  • Fire ants were first detected in south-east Queensland in 2001. Australia has prevented them from spreading nationally for more than two decades.
  • A separate fire ant incursion detected at Sydney’s Enfield Intermodal Logistics Centre in September has been genetically confirmed as originating overseas and is not linked to the south-east Queensland infestation.

Related Content

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Community warned to be vigilant as fire ants take advantage of wild weather
Shocking footage: Community warning issued as fire ants take advantage of Qld flood waters

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    Dear Project Team,

    [YOUR PERSONALISED MESSAGE WILL APPEAR HERE.] 

    I support the amendment to the Kosciuszko National Park Wild Horse Heritage Management Plan to allow our incredible National Parks staff to use aerial shooting as one method to rapidly reduce feral horse numbers. I want to see feral horse numbers urgently reduced in order to save the national park and our native wildlife that live there.

    The current approach is not solving the problem. Feral horse numbers have rapidly increased in Kosciuszko National Park to around 18,000, a 30% jump in just the past 2 years. With the population so high, thousands of feral horses need to be removed annually to reduce numbers and stop our National Park becoming a horse paddock. Aerial shooting, undertaken humanely and safely by professionals using standard protocols, is the only way this can happen.

    The government’s own management plan for feral horses states that ‘if undertaken in accordance with best practice, aerial shooting can have the lowest negative animal welfare impacts of all lethal control methods’.

    This humane and effective practice is already used across Australia to manage hundreds of thousands of feral animals like horses, deer, pigs, and goats.

    Trapping and rehoming of feral horses has been used in Kosciuszko National Park for well over a decade but has consistently failed to reduce the population, has delayed meaningful action and is expensive. There are too many feral horses in the Alps and not enough demand for rehoming for it to be relied upon for the reduction of the population.

    Fertility control as a management tool is only effective for a small, geographically isolated, and accessible population of feral horses where the management outcome sought is to maintain the population at its current size. It is not a viable option to reduce the large and growing feral horse population in the vast and rugged terrain of Kosciuszko National Park.

    Feral horses are trashing and trampling our sensitive alpine ecosystems and streams, causing the decline and extinction of native animals. The federal government’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee has stated that feral horses ‘may be the crucial factor that causes final extinction’ for 12 alpine species.

    I recognise the sad reality that urgent and humane measures are necessary to urgently remove the horses or they will destroy the Snowies and the native wildlife that call the mountains home. I support a healthy national park where native species like the Corroboree Frog and Mountain Pygmy Possum can thrive.

    Kind regards,
    [Your name]
    [Your email address]
    [Your postcode]


    Dear Project Team,

    [YOUR PERSONALISED MESSAGE WILL APPEAR HERE.] 

    I support the amendment to the Kosciuszko National Park Wild Horse Heritage Management Plan to allow our incredible National Parks staff to use aerial shooting as one method to rapidly reduce feral horse numbers. I want to see feral horse numbers urgently reduced in order to save the national park and our native wildlife that live there.

    The current approach is not solving the problem. Feral horse numbers have rapidly increased in Kosciuszko National Park to around 18,000, a 30% jump in just the past 2 years. With the population so high, thousands of feral horses need to be removed annually to reduce numbers and stop our National Park becoming a horse paddock. Aerial shooting, undertaken humanely and safely by professionals using standard protocols, is the only way this can happen.

    The government’s own management plan for feral horses states that ‘if undertaken in accordance with best practice, aerial shooting can have the lowest negative animal welfare impacts of all lethal control methods’.

    This humane and effective practice is already used across Australia to manage hundreds of thousands of feral animals like horses, deer, pigs, and goats.

    Trapping and rehoming of feral horses has been used in Kosciuszko National Park for well over a decade but has consistently failed to reduce the population, has delayed meaningful action and is expensive. There are too many feral horses in the Alps and not enough demand for rehoming for it to be relied upon for the reduction of the population.

    Fertility control as a management tool is only effective for a small, geographically isolated, and accessible population of feral horses where the management outcome sought is to maintain the population at its current size. It is not a viable option to reduce the large and growing feral horse population in the vast and rugged terrain of Kosciuszko National Park.

    Feral horses are trashing and trampling our sensitive alpine ecosystems and streams, causing the decline and extinction of native animals. The federal government’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee has stated that feral horses ‘may be the crucial factor that causes final extinction’ for 12 alpine species.

    I recognise the sad reality that urgent and humane measures are necessary to urgently remove the horses or they will destroy the Snowies and the native wildlife that call the mountains home. I support a healthy national park where native species like the Corroboree Frog and Mountain Pygmy Possum can thrive.

    Kind regards,
    [Your name]
    [Your email address]
    [Your postcode]