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How to report invasive ants

Our Work  |  Invasive Insects  |  Photo: Mikhail Vasilyev

Yellow crazy ants and red imported fire ants are just two types of dangerous new invasive ants now found in Australia.

Unlike our native ants they are not a natural part of the Australian landscape, and can threaten our wildlife, ecosystems, agriculture and even people through their aggressive behaviour.

Most new infestations of invasive ants in Australia have been uncovered by ordinary people who saw something and reported it.

Uncovering new infestations before they spread is vital to keeping Australia safe from these dangerous ant species, and dramatically minimises the cost of eradication programs.

Due to their small size these ants can be hard to identify. We have compiled these identification resources to help you.

If you think you have seen any of these high risk ants, or if you are in doubt, please report what you have found to the biosecurity contacts for your state or territory listed below.

Identification guides

Reporting hotlines

  • National Exotic Plant Pest Hotline: 1800 084 881

This number will connect you to the correct biosecurity agency in the state you are calling from. It can be used to report exotic plant diseases and insects. Individual state agency contacts are also listed below.

Queensland

New South Wales

Northern Territory

  • Phone 1800 084 881 – exotic plant pest hotline (also for reporting insects)
    or 08 8999 2258 – NT Government entomologist
  • Email statecoordinator.bpi@nt.gov.au
  • More information >>

Western Australia

  • Phone 1800 084 881 – exotic plant pest hotline (also for reporting insects)
  • Email info@agric.wa.gov.au or mypestguide@agric.wa.gov.au
  • Reporting apps >>

Australian Capital Territory

  • Phone 1800 084 881 – exotic plant pest hotline (also for reporting insects)
    or 13 22 81 – Territory and Municipal Services
  • More information >>

Victoria

  • Phone 1800 084 881 – exotic plant pest hotline (also for reporting insects)
    or 136 186 – DELWP customer service
  • Email customer.service@delwp.vic.gov.au
  • More information >>

Tasmania

  • Phone 1800 084 881 – exotic plant pest hotline (also for reporting insects)
    or 1300 368 688 – invasive species hotline, 03 6165 3777 – DPIPWE customer service
  • Email Quarantine.Enquiries@dpipwe.tas.gov.au
  • More information >>

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]