Aussies Get the Dirt on Fire Ants
A fleet of vans from the Orange County Fire Ant Authority broke the midday calm in a red-roofed Mission Viejo neighborhood Thursday, carrying a troop of exterminators on the prowl for a tiny but potentially deadly invader.
The county’s battle to eradicate the imported red fire ant--a stinging interloper from South America that was discovered in Orange County in 1998--has been so successful that the program has become a model for other areas similarly overrun.
On Thursday, the crew was joined by one of Australia’s top agricultural officials because Orange County is closer to eradicating the stubborn imported fire ant population than anywhere in the nation. The local fire ant infestations mimic two recently discovered ant invasions in the Australian state of Queensland, which could devastate the island nation’s fragile ecosystems.
“These ants are the world’s greatest invaders. They truly hate every living thing,” said Keith McCubbin, director of the Fire Ant Control Centre in Queensland.
The Australian government has committed $145 million over five years to get rid of infestations centered around the port and western suburbs of Brisbane. To devise the best fire ant strategy, McCubbin came seeking advice from Orange County.
Richard Bowen, the county’s program manager, added, “Observing our progress is logical. We have a one-year head start on their program, our climates are similar and both infestations are somewhat isolated.”
Imported red fire ants are indigenous to South America, but were first found in the United States in Mobile, Ala. Now, they have spread through the humid Southeast and have also infested parts of California and the Midwest.
The reddish-brown bugs are typically less than a quarter-inch long. They pierce human skin with their pincers, and a barbed stinger causes a painful blister.
The insects are known for swarming. They silently coordinate their attack, using pheromones, so that hundreds sting at once. At least 36 deaths have been attributed to red fire ants, including, in 2000, that of an 87-year-old nursing home patient with Alzheimer’s disease in Sarasota, Fla., who was bitten 1,625 times as she lay in her bed.
McCubbin also visited Texas, which has been overrun by the insects and where eradication isn’t even an option. The only solution there is to control the infestations, so the state offered a picture of how grave the situation could become if Australia doesn’t act now, he said. He also visited Merced to view infestations in almond orchards, a safety issue for workers.
But the situation in Orange County could shed the most light on how best to proceed.
On Tuesday, field workers were spraying a form of ant birth control onto the perimeter ridges of the Painted Trails development. In parks and schools, they also use a chemical that stops the insects from metabolizing food, causing them to starve to death.
Experts once suggested aerial spraying, which local officials immediately nixed. Instead, they chose the two chemicals that are “less toxic than table salt,” said Mike Hearst, communications director of the county’s Fire Ant Authority.
There are more than 18,800 infested sites in Orange County, which is spending $11.6 million over five years to get rid of the ants. After treatment, 97% of the colonies appear to be gone. Hearst said eradication is likely by 2005.
