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Fire ants wreak environmental havoc in Australia

Experts in Australia say South American fire ants are causing a potential ecological catastrophe.

The ant has been found at 733 sites across 23,000 hectares in Queensland.

A £45m eradication programme is due to begin next month. The ants are killing off native populations of animals.

It's thought the ants arrived in the country earlier this year on a cargo ship from South America.

"This is really terrifying stuff and I'm not exaggerating, " Ric Nattrass, manager of Queensland's environmental research service, Naturesearch, told the Sydney Morning Herald.

Mr Nattrass says the ants are swarming out of their nests and attacking the skink lizards which usually eat ants.

"The decline in the natives has been massive, with whole populations being stripped away," Mr Nattrass said. "You walk through infested areas and all you can see is fire ant mounds. It's terrifying to contemplate the consequences."

Keith McCubbin, director of the Fire Ant Control Centre, said: "If we don't succeed, we will be living with an ecological disaster for ever."

The ant's bite can be fatal to humans.

Story filed: 21:55 Thursday 23rd August 2001

-- Anonymous, August 23, 2001