Fire ant fight escalates amid threats to biosecurity officers. #InvasiveSpecies #FireAnts #Biosecurity

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/may/03/fire-ants-australia-eradication-biosecurity-officers-queensland-ntwnfb?CMP=share_btn_url

The biosecurity officers' fight against fire ants and allegations of threats, harassment and stalking
A Glen Turner Déjà vu

“We’ve had threats of ‘If you come on my property, I’ll shoot you’. ‘If you try and come on my property, I’ll set my dog on you...Australian police are routinely escorting biosecurity officers onto private properties after they reported being threatened with dogs and guns. In cases when people were “incredibly hostile”, program staff would “proactively engage with the police to escort us and to keep the peace and to keep everyone safe in that environment, because we need to complete the treatment”
>>
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/may/03/fire-ants-australia-eradication-biosecurity-officers-queensland-ntwnfb

The environmental officer Glen Turner
was shot in Croppa Creek, near Moree in 2014 investigating illegal land clearing. "There is an interweaving between the physical murder of Glen Turner, and the ecological ‘murder’ of the brigalow through the voracious demand for agricultural land." Book review: ‘The Winter Road’ by Kate Holden
>>
https://residentjudge.com/2022/04/09/the-winter-road-by-kate-holden/
#conservation #biosecurity #FireAnts #InvasiveSpecies #BiosecurityOfficers #OHS #biodiversity #IllegalLandClearing #GlenTurner #violence #crime #Moree #GoldCoast #Grafton #SunshineCoast #LandOwnership #IndividualPropertyRights #PossessiveIndividualism #liberalism #pseudolaw #community #pests #EnvironmentalImpacts #insecticide #EnvironmentalLaws #NSW

Fire ant bait opponents face sting of the law as Queensland police called in

Tensions ramp up between authorities and property owners who don’t want chemical treatment spread on their land

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/oct/02/fire-ant-bait-opponents-face-sting-of-the-law-as-queensland-police-called-in

Do we really need to have NIMBYs and cookers for everything?

#News #Australia #FireAnts #Queensland

The blacklight trap we set up the other night at UT Hill Country Field Station brought in a lot of insects, and a nearby fire ant colony took advantage of the bounty. This worker had quite a selection of little beetles to prey on; they seemed to prefer the heterocerids.

#Entomology #Insects #Ants #Beetles #FireAnts

#Texas #SantaFe #Police #LawEnforcement
#FireAnts #Torture #video

Hey, Santa Fe PD,

Sgt. Ruben #Espinoza and officer Christian #Garranza are bad cops, unkind neighbors, and are not good people.
https://www.galvnews.com/news/santa-fe-woman-suing-city-over-fire-ant-bites-demands-better-police-training/article_763a0ce6-8d6b-523a-89fd-ff8936de8983.html

https://www.khou.com/article/news/local/fire-ants-arrest-santa-fe-texas-lawsuit/285-b94f9096-6858-4220-9ce1-4b9ddd5c594a

Ant geopolitics
https://aeon.co/essays/the-strange-and-turbulent-global-world-of-ant-geopolitics

Report red imported fire ants (Solenopsis invicta)
Information about fire ants and stopping their spread in NSW
https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/dpi/bfs/insect-pests/rifa

‘Wildly toxic’ poison used on fire ants is killing native Australian animals, experts warn Senate inquiry. Fipronil is banned for use on crops in the EU, China, Vietnam and California
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/mar/16/fipronil-fire-ant-poison-toxic-senate-inquiry-bans

Human-mediated dispersal of ants
How ants are breaking down biogeographic boundaries and homogenizing biodiversity
"Our impact on biodiversity is overriding the biogeographical patterns resulting from millions of years of evolution, and disproportionately affecting the tropics and the islands."
https://phys.org/news/2024-03-ants-biogeographic-boundaries-homogenizing-biodiversity.html

#ants #SolenopsisInvicta #FireAnts #pests #InvasiveSpecies #biosecurity #trade #NSW #wildlife #BellingenShire #Fipronil #pesticide