They’re tiny. Two to six millimetres long. But red imported fire ants are among the most feared pests on the planet, and a nest has just turned up in Sydney.
The nest was found at the Enfield Intermodal Logistics Centre, in Sydney’s inner west. The fire ants are gone from the site now. The bad news? Authorities reckon some have already spread.
How they were found
Commonwealth officers picked them up on 25 September, in a lure that’s part of their detection system.
Where’d they come from? Overseas, going by the DNA. A shipping container, most likely. So no, it’s not the Queensland mob creeping south.
NSW Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty says the container probably came through Port Botany. Federal authorities are now tracing where it went. That’s no small job. Tens of thousands of containers pass through Enfield.
Moriarty wasn’t thrilled with how long things took, either. Confirmation from the federal government “took longer than it should have,” she said.
Nasty little things
Scott Charlton is NSW’s chief invasive species officer. He puts them “among the world’s most invasive species”.
The sting hurts. People describe a burning pain, followed by swelling, redness and itchy blisters or pustules that can take days to heal. Charlton says the bites can put children in hospital, and that people overseas die from them every year.
Moriarty didn’t sugar-coat it. A “significant threat to New South Wales”, she called it.
Have they spread?
Probably, yes.
Charlton’s pretty blunt about it. They’re “fairly certain” the ants got past the nest. Modelling puts the chance they’ve reached within 500 metres at 93 per cent. For the wider 2-kilometre zone, it’s 23 per cent.
Detection dogs have searched the site and nearby areas. They haven’t found any more nests so far.
What’s being done
An incident team is on the job. It includes NSW Primary Industries experts and officers from the National Fire Ant Program in Queensland, who’ve had plenty of practice.
Officers are inspecting properties and treating possible spots within 500 metres of the nest. Surveillance and treatment are also happening across the 2-kilometre zone around it.
A control order is expected within weeks. Anything ants could hitch a ride in? Moving it around gets a lot harder.
Local businesses are being looped in too. Bunnings is one. It’s got its own plan for this sort of thing.
Got questions? Pop into the drop-in centre opening at Chullora Marketplace, Greenacre.
Not NSW’s first brush with fire ants
NSW has seen them off before. Fire ant nests were wiped out at Port Botany in 2014, and in the Northern Rivers over the past three years, according to the government.
Not all bad news, though. Reece Pianta works at the Invasive Species Council. He reckons the system did its job, catching the ants before an infestation took hold.
What to look out for
If you live or work around Enfield, Greenacre, Chullora or the surrounding suburbs, keep an eye out.
Fire ants are small and dark reddish-brown, and they nest in the ground.
Leave a suspected nest alone and report it. Call 1800 680 244 or use the NSW Department of Primary Industries online reporting form.
“Biosecurity is everybody’s responsibility,” Moriarty said, “so we want the community to help us to have a look for these red imported fire ants.”
Where to from here
The next few weeks are the big test. More nests outside the zone? Then it’s a much bigger headache.
For now, the message for Sydney’s inner west is simple. Look down, and if you see something odd in the dirt, call it in.