Now Reading: Australian island declared fire-ant free after 20-year effort
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Australian island declared fire-ant free after 20-year effort
Times of India reports that tropical fire ants have been completely eradicated from Melville Island in Australia's Tiwi Islands after two decades of effort. The Tiwi Island Rangers, supported by the government's…
The Story in Brief
Times of India reports that tropical fire ants have been completely eradicated from Melville Island in Australia's Tiwi Islands after two decades of effort. The Tiwi Island Rangers, supported by the government's Indigenous Rangers Program, led the work. They located and poisoned individual nests across 1,535 hectares using the insecticide Amdro. The invasive ants threatened sea turtle hatchlings, small mammals and nesting birds. Four turtle species that nest on the islands are listed as endangered or vulnerable. More than 40 rangers were involved in the project, which won a Territory Indigenous Natural Resource Management Award in 2025.
The Indian Opinion
The Tiwi rangers' success is rightly celebrated, but the narrative of a small, localised victory can obscure the scale of the global fire-ant problem. The eradicated area, 1,535 hectares, is tiny compared to invasions in Queensland or the Americas. The painstaking nest-by-nest method worked here because the incursion was caught early and isolated. Will this model survive budget cuts or reach larger, more established infestations? That is the real test.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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