The National Fire Ant Program being run by government(s) in Qld and NSW under the guise of “biosecurity” is doing more harm than “good”.
Numerous reports are now coming in from the areas affected of people, pets, wildlife and livestock getting sick, as well as causing severe damage to the environment, after fire ant eradication teams have conducted “baiting” in the area. Both ground based baiting and aerial spraying.
There have been cases of beehives being destroyed, chickens and other foul droping dead after ingesting the poison baits, cats and dogs becoming ill and dying and people developing headaches, rashes and persistent coughs.
The following blog is some pertinent information I’ve put together to highlight some of the issues, and to suggest some things we can do to pushback and raise awareness to our neighbours, family and friends about this blatant poisoning of people, pets, wildlife, crops and livestock, our waterways and our environment.
Beekeeper in Bonogin, Qld loses 14 hives after fire ant eradication chopper sprayed his property.
In addition to the man who lost 14 hives at Bonogin, his neighbour also had this to say:
“My Pomeranian became very ill, a week after the aerial baiting. He had severe diarrhoea, stopped eating, drinking and walking. We have also lost 3 beehives a week after baiting, on two separate occasions. We know of many others that have taken their dogs to dog parks where they have baited and also became very ill. There are dogs showing Parvo like symptoms after the baiting. My husband and myself had diarrhoea and headaches after the aerial baiting and I personally have developed a lingering persistent cough.
This is becoming a major health issue for people, pets, wildlife and the environment. Please help share the video and get this information out to the people. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Bees are very sensitive to their environment and the aerial baiting is having detrimental impact on us, our animals and our environment.”
Another resident of the area said:
“Gosh, it’s a sad society when people have to fight to have clean air and soil and environment for nature around waterways.
Over 6 days that I’m aware of, we have had aerial helicopters up and down Bonogin Creek. I feel those on creek boundary have been more affected than other residents. Our family including pets were subject to chemical smells due to the southerly winds. Residue around pool and water tanks.
No bush turkeys since February. Bees and limited and what about the wild birds … if I have pests I want to get rid of … I will. But to subject us to threats of fines, large numbers of persons to enter property and enter if not home is just wrong.
This causes undue stress and anxiety, mental health issues to people who just want to live in peace and freedom. Plus to have council persons treat those who are concerned with rejection and removal of posts is very sad.
People who criticize those that are subjected to more chemicals than most should realise that we really do care for our environment and we all don’t know the long term consequences.
Thank you for the opportunity to have my say.”
This concerned resident said:
“My daughter has been sick on & off since March. I am currently recovering from pneumonia. And my cat has just had emergency surgery to remove her infected uterus. Now my husband is sick. Our family has not been sick in years… we even survived a ‘pandemic’ without so much as a runny nose. Must be all a safe & effective coincidence”
From Beechmere: ^
“Has any experienced poultry suddenly die after fire any baiting?
This morning at Beachmere we have found 2 chickens and 1 Guinea fowl in the pen dead. 1 Guinea fowl was found outside pen. Another young guinea fowl was seen walking around and dead 20 minutes later.”
Toxic To Aquatic Life:
“Ingredients they’re using are Pyriproxyfen or s methoprene which if you look on the safety data sheet for these products they are very toxic to aquatic life.”
https://sumitomo-chem.com.au/sites/default/files/sds-label/s-methoprene_tg_sds_201612.pdf
“Pyriproxyfen is harmful to aquatic life so I hope the biosecurity employees get to see this to see what they are helping to do – destroying our native wildlife. Not sure how they sleep at night knowing they’re poisoning this beautiful part of Qld.
Shame on you.”
“This is why you don’t indiscriminately throw this stuff around everywhere!”
Pyriproxyfen in the creek. Letter from concerned residents in Samford, Qld:
“Biosecurity Queensland
Subject: Inquiry regarding the poisoning of Samford Creek via helicopter.
Dear Media Team at @biosecurityqld @senatorsurfer @tanyaplibersek @sarah_hansonyoung @invasive_species_council
I am writing to express concern and seek information regarding the recent aerial poison baiting program that resulted in the contamination of Samford Creek, which is located near a school and is used for recreational activities. I have several questions regarding this incident and would appreciate your prompt response.
Here are my questions:
- What are the potential environmental and health impacts of this #Pyriproxyfen
substance on aquatic life and human populations? - Were any environmental assessments or impact studies conducted before the aerial baiting program, and if so, can the results be made publicly available?
- What protocols are in place to prevent accidental contamination of water sources and surrounding areas during aerial baiting programs, and how are these protocols enforced?
- Are there alternative, non-toxic methods for controlling pests in the area that were considered before resorting to aerial poison baiting, and if so, why were they not chosen for this operation?
- What advice or guidance has been provided to the local community regarding the safety of the creek for recreational activities such as swimming, fishing, or boating, following the aerial baiting program?
- Will @biosecurityqld be making a public apology or announcement about the contamination incident, and if so, when can the community expect this notification?”
High levels of the fire ant poison in Dawson Creek in the Samford Valley.
Remember this stuff is extremely toxic to aquatic life. And kids swim in this creek.
“If you live in Queensland or Northern NSW this will likely happen to you soon.
Please sign the petition to stop the toxic fire ant program.”
https://www.change.org/p/stop-the-toxic-fire-ant-program
Fire ant poison in Samford Creek ^
Unfortunately it is already happening in other areas, and in Northern NSW. This from a resident of Murwullimbah, NSW:
“They chopper came over sprayed near our property, which backs on to the Tweed River. Within half an hour we noticed big schools of fish, mullet we presumed, feeding on something on the surface of the water. Hundreds of fish were seen jumping out of the water and we’ve never seen that much surface activity in our stretch of the river before.”
Not only toxic to aquatic life, check out the advice for livestock.
“This is from the DAFF website advising to keep livestock ie cows, horses, sheep, etc off land treated with the fire ant bait for 3 weeks!
Absolutely ridiculous”
13; Where treatment for fire ants has occurred:
b) Livestock must not be returned to the area(s) that were treated for a period of not less than three weeks after the date of bait application.
c) If livestock are not removed prior to and from the area(s) that were treated, the livestock and/or its produce must not be sold as organic or bio-dynamic.
https://tinyurl.com/Livestock13bc
Livestock advice^
There’s no fire ants here, why are you spraying?
“Not allowed to use under their permit where fire ants are NOT present. They shouldn’t even be spraying from helicopters if they follow the conditions of use or where there are no fire ants present. Therefore, this is your “reasonable excuse” to not have bait put on your property and you can refuse access to Biosecurity personnel.”
https://permits.apvma.gov.au/PER90213.PDF
“To top it off, there’s no bloody fire ants here!” ^
From Kooralbyn, Qld:
“Roobs they came onto my property when I wasn’t home, broke the gate and scared the shit out of my 13 year old daughter. Then they baited my property. Later when I said there’s no fire ants on my property they admitted the nearest fire ant nest is 20kms away”
Breaking their own rules:
“Biosecurity Queensland @nationalfireantprogram have admitted they were negligent when they poisoned the creek.
So do our tax dollars pay the fine for your negligence?
Will you halt the program immediately?”
Under the Environmental Protection Act 1994 (Queensland), the maximum penalties for environmental offenses, including pollution of waterways, are:
- For an individual: 4,000 penalty units (currently $268,800) or 2 years imprisonment
- For a corporation: 8,000 penalty units (currently $537,600).
Additionally, the Queensland Government may also issue on-the-spot fines for environmental offenses, including: - $2,438 for an individual
- $12,192 for a corporation
https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/view/pdf/asmade/act-1994-062
Breaking their own rules ^
DO NOT SPRAY DURING RAIN OR IF RAIN IS FORECAST WITHIN THREE DAYS
Alternative treatments:
Naturally Occurring Compounds/Materials as Alternatives to Synthetic Chemical Insecticides for
Use in Fire Ant Management, download PDF Here – https://aussieflyers.com/pdf/naturally-occurring-compounds-materials-as-alternatives-to-synthetic-chemical-insecticides-for-use-in-fire-ant-management
Fire Ant Treatment: Natural and Biological Control.
Currently, the best biological control method for fire ants is to preserve other ant species that compete with them for food and nesting sites, attack small fire ant colonies, or kill newly mated queen fire ants. – https://ant-pests.extension.org/fire-ant-treatment-natural-and-biological-control/
Cinnamon Bark Oil kills fire ants!
Sounds like a safer alternative to synthetic chemicals such as Pyriproxyfen, S-methoprene, fipronil, hydrethylnon and indoxacarb to name a few!
See video below.
“Feeling helpless and not sure what action to take?
Make sure your voice is heard!
Email your representatives and let them know that we DO NOT CONSENT and request an injunction.
Our amazing community members have put together a list of articles and research links for you to include in an email directly to council and ministerial representatives.
We have made it super easy and included their contact details on the doc for you.
You can also use our email templates to get you started.”
Find all our resources here – https://linktr.ee/fireanttreatmentalternatives
Please feel free to share this link with others.
Fire Ant Treatment Alternatives on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61558532321900
JOIN: Stop The Toxic Fire Ant Program Facebook Group – https://www.facebook.com/groups/444909177952083
LIKE, FOLLOW, SHARE. Save The Bees Australia – https://www.facebook.com/groups/444909177952083/user/100064354015764
Other Information:
One Nation Senator for Qld Malcolm Roberts at a Senate Hearing back in 2022.
“I had a simple question for our bio-security officials, are they winning in their war against fire ants in south Queensland? The answer I get from people on the ground is definitely not.
There’s a lot of questions about how the State Government is spending the hundreds of millions and whether it’s just a money spinner”
https://www.malcolmrobertsqld.com.au/fire-ant-eradication-failure-costing-hundreds-of-millions/
Fire ant fiasco: locals bite back in Logan City.
https://mycitylogan.com.au/fire-ant-fiasco-locals-bite-back
Some interesting articles on the APVMA. This is the govt body allowing toxic chemicals to be dumped on our properties.
Flashback From The Vault; Spraying for Fire Ants in 1960’s America and the concerns held back then:
“In the case of the imported-fire-ant program, appropriations for “eradication” were voted by Congress, and it then became the obligation of the Department of Agriculture to carry out the program through its Pest Control Division. Officials administering the program have held that if they were permitted to carry on an all-out campaign the ant could be eliminated and any areas suffering damage to wildlife would be repopulated naturally. It is a matter of historic irony, however, that the entire furor over the fire ant has been concerned with an insect which, on further investigation, has turned out to be something less of a menace than it was originally made out to be.
Not so the poisons. One of the warnings sent out to local residents in advance of the spraying, for instance, says: “Cover gardens and wash vegetables before eating them; cover small fish ponds; take fish out of pools and wash pools before replacing the fish; don’t put laundry out; keep milk cows off treated pastures for 30 days, and beef cattle 15 days; cover beehives or move them away; keep children off ground for a few days; don’t let pets or poultry drink from puddles.”
https://vault.si.com/vault/1960/05/02/the-deadly-spray
Our initiatives:
You may have recalled we created the first DO NOT SPRAY FIRE ANT POISON sign back in February of this year. See below video.
Our 1st signs back in Feb 24 ^
In April we updated the signs to include No Trespassing and two QR codes that take people to the following websites – “Naturally Occurring Compounds/Materials As Alternatives To Synthetic Chemical Insecticides For Use In Fire Ant Management” https://aussieflyers.com/pdf/naturally-occurring-compounds-materials-as-alternatives-to-synthetic-chemical-insecticides-for-use-in-fire-ant-management
and, “Stop the toxic fire ant program. Wildly toxic poison used on fire ants is killing native Australian animals” https://www.change.org/p/stop-the-toxic-fire-ant-program
Our 2nd and latest updated sign^
At that time we put the call out for donations and were able to raise enough funds to print 50 signs and make them available for free to people. And we Thank each and every one of you who participated in that action, and contributed to make it happen. See vid below:
What’s next?
Since the video of the beekeeper from Bonogin who lost 14 hives was published, we have once again been inundated with orders for our signs. However I do not think it is appropriate we call out for donations this time, as people have already been generous enough about this and we feel that it is better if we print them on demand instead, and people can order them as they need them.
Don’t get me wrong, if people are willing to contribute again that’s fine and you can do that by emailing me [email protected] , but it’s not necessary.
To print one of these signs costs $43, that’s just one. So it is very expensive to print in small numbers. For that reason the minimum number of signs to order is 6, and they are $18 each. You can also order 12 signs for $12.50 each, 24 signs for $10 each and 48 signs for $8 each.
The shipping costs are – $20 for orders of 6 or 12 signs, and $30 for orders of 24 or 48 signs. Shipped to anywhere in Australia where they are needed.
Please go here to order – https://aussieflyers.com/product/do-not-spray-no-trespassing-fire-ant-poison-signs
See latest video below.
We understand also that some people might not be able to afford to buy these signs by themselves at the print on demand prices, so we want to encourage everybody to connect with your neighbours, family and friends and pool together your resources. Approach your local likeminded groups, committees, community organisations, etc to make it happen if you want and/or need to obtain these signs.
Alternatively, you can download the free Print Ready PDF of the signs from me, and get them printed at your local print shop. Download here – https://aussieflyers.com/pdf/do-not-spray-no-trespassing-fire-ant-poison-signs
Additionally, we will be creating an A5 Flyer in the coming weeks for distribution to homes, businesses and govt offices in the areas that are affected, and the wider communities. It will be available at affordable prices from us, and we will also provide a free Print Ready PDF should you choose to print it at home, or take it to your local print shop. Please Standby for that.
And finally, the next edition of our magazine will feature this blog as an article on the Fire Ant (Poison) Menace.
Please Subscribe Here – https://aussieflyers.com/aussie-flyer-magazine
Thank you all once again for your ongoing support of Aussie Flyers. We love ya’s all.
JOIN US: https://aussieflyers.bio.link/
