Kuranda got blitzed!

The National Electric Ant Eradication Program (NEAEP) held a large scale surveillance blitz searching for electric ants on nature strips along Kuranda’s streets on the weekend of the 18th and 19th of January.

The Yellow Crazy Ant (YCA) Community Taskforce along with the State Emergency Services and friends of the NEAEP joined the surveillance. The YCA Community Taskforce searched for yellow crazy ants using a cat food and jam lure while alongside skewered sausages were used to lure for electric ants. Yellow crazy ants are known to be attracted to the sausage lure as well. The lures were placed on both sides of the residential streets in Kuranda and after an hour all the ant samples were collected for identification by the NEAEP.

We had thirteen taskforce members there, with a total of forty people searching for invasive ants over the weekend.

Electric ants are an in the world’s top 100 invasive species. They are a significant environmental, health and agricultural pest that are currently only found in Far North Queensland with 1 in 5 infestations found in Kuranda, Myola, Speewah and Koah areas.

The results of the survey will be released by NEAEP once all ant samples are identified.

A BIG thank you to taskforce members, community champions and SES crew for giving your time to sweat in this fun outdoor activity searching for invasive ants in our community.