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Help push back against the march of yellow crazy ants

Help protect Australia’s dry tropics and Wet Tropics World Heritage Area from the march of yellow crazy ants.
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Over the past three years our Queensland team Yvette, Bev and Janet have been quietly working away with locals in the small town of Nome south of Townsville to eradicate yellow crazy ants.

It’s vital work if we want to secure Queensland and Australia’s tropical north from the march of these invasive ants, which form giant super colonies that vacuum up small birds, lizards, frogs and even small mammals.

Can you donate now and help us secure enough money to rid the Townsville area of yellow crazy ants?

At stake is the wildlife of the dry tropics, the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area and species like the critically endangered Mt Elliot nursery frog.

Why we must stop crazy ants in their tracks

Even if you haven’t heard of yellow crazy ants you’d know about the massive damage they inflict on our wildlife.

A case in point? Yellow crazy ants are behind the deaths of up to 20 million Christmas Island red crabs. Yes, those iconic red crabs you see on the TV clambering across the island in their millions.

So far, mainland Australia has been lucky. Yes, we have pockets of yellow crazy ants, but in Queensland they are either being eradicated, such as around Cairns, or their numbers are not yet large enough to inflict such terrible harm on our wildlife.

Yvette, Bev and Janet have worked tirelessly with Townsville council staff and local volunteers to save Nome from yellow crazy ants.

And while we are now in the final stages of ensuring ants at Nome have been completely eradicated, there’s a bigger threat facing Townsville.

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Bev with volunteers at Billabong Sanctuary.

So close to winning

Six months ago we were on the cusp of declaring Nome free of yellow crazy ants. Then a new infestation turned up right at the edge of our survey area.

We were all devastated. Our staff and volunteers have put in a huge effort to eradicate yellow crazy ants, an ant so devastating that it is on the IUCN list of 100 of the world’s worst invasive species.

And there are three other areas with yellow crazy ants in Townsville that are not being treated at all.

Our funding for Bev and Janet’s work has run out, but regardless, they are still working on the Townsville Yellow Crazy Ant Community Taskforce as volunteers.

Magnificent brolgas that flock to the Townsville Common are just one of the many native bird species at risk from the invasion of yellow crazy ants. Photo: Chris Tzaros

Can you help?

We need to secure enough money to rid the Townsville area of yellow crazy ants and the only way we can do that is with your help.

There are now five populations of yellow crazy ants encircling Townsville – at Nome, Black River, Mount St John and Douglas. The fifth population is the one found recently by Bev and Janet at Alligator Creek.

Eradication of the Nome infestation is on track. The four other infestation sites need urgent treatment and pose serious environment threats if allowed to spread.

  1. The Black River site is 8km from the southern end of the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area and just 5km from the only known population of the critically endangered Gulbaru gecko.
  2. The Mount St John site is close to Townsville Common, important wetlands that are home to 11 frog species and 280 recorded bird species, including magpie geese and brolgas.
  3. The Douglas site is adjacent to residential areas and the banks of the Ross River, which leads to mangrove areas and enters the coast near Magnetic Island.
  4. The Alligator River site is less than 5km from the Mt Elliot section of Bowling Green Bay National Park, an area of exceptional species endemism and a climate refuge with many species found only on Mt Elliot, including the Saxicoline sunskink, the Mt Elliot crayfish and the critically endangered Mt Elliot nursery frog.

We have much to do

  • We want to make a strong case to the Queensland and federal governments to include eradication of yellow crazy ants from Townsville in next year’s budgets.
  • We want to work with local communities to strengthen the case for immediate action.
  • We want to promote our detailed plan explaining why we need more than $3 million annually over ten years to properly fund the Townsville eradication program.

If we don’t stop yellow crazy ants encircling Townsville they will inevitably march on Australia’s tropical north and its incredible biodiversity hotspots.

Please donate now to help us eradicate yellow crazy ants from Townsville.

Related Content

Yellow crazy ants are not native to Australia, but have been found in Queensland and are the focus of several eradication programs. Yellow crazy ants - budak Flickr - CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Too much to lose – yellow crazy ants in the wet tropics
Funding shortfall would unleash yellow crazy ant horror on Queensland’s Wet Tropics
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The Invasive Species Council was formed in 2002 to seek stronger laws, policies and programs to protect nature from harmful pests, weeds and diseases.

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Your gift is a lifeline for nature.

Our protected areas are being trashed, trampled, choked and polluted by an onslaught of invaders. Invasive species are already the overwhelming driver of our animal extinction rate, and are expected to cause 75 of the next 100 extinctions.

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A silent crisis is unfolding across Australia. Every year, billions of native animals are hunted and killed by cats and foxes. Fire ants continue to spread and threaten human health. And the deadly strain of bird flu looms on the horizon. Your donation today will be used to put the invasive species threat in the media, make invasive species a government priority, ensure governments take rapid action to protect nature and our remarkable native wildlife from invasives-led extinction, death and destruction.

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    Dear Project Team,

    [YOUR PERSONALISED MESSAGE WILL APPEAR HERE.] 

    I support the amendment to the Kosciuszko National Park Wild Horse Heritage Management Plan to allow our incredible National Parks staff to use aerial shooting as one method to rapidly reduce feral horse numbers. I want to see feral horse numbers urgently reduced in order to save the national park and our native wildlife that live there.

    The current approach is not solving the problem. Feral horse numbers have rapidly increased in Kosciuszko National Park to around 18,000, a 30% jump in just the past 2 years. With the population so high, thousands of feral horses need to be removed annually to reduce numbers and stop our National Park becoming a horse paddock. Aerial shooting, undertaken humanely and safely by professionals using standard protocols, is the only way this can happen.

    The government’s own management plan for feral horses states that ‘if undertaken in accordance with best practice, aerial shooting can have the lowest negative animal welfare impacts of all lethal control methods’.

    This humane and effective practice is already used across Australia to manage hundreds of thousands of feral animals like horses, deer, pigs, and goats.

    Trapping and rehoming of feral horses has been used in Kosciuszko National Park for well over a decade but has consistently failed to reduce the population, has delayed meaningful action and is expensive. There are too many feral horses in the Alps and not enough demand for rehoming for it to be relied upon for the reduction of the population.

    Fertility control as a management tool is only effective for a small, geographically isolated, and accessible population of feral horses where the management outcome sought is to maintain the population at its current size. It is not a viable option to reduce the large and growing feral horse population in the vast and rugged terrain of Kosciuszko National Park.

    Feral horses are trashing and trampling our sensitive alpine ecosystems and streams, causing the decline and extinction of native animals. The federal government’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee has stated that feral horses ‘may be the crucial factor that causes final extinction’ for 12 alpine species.

    I recognise the sad reality that urgent and humane measures are necessary to urgently remove the horses or they will destroy the Snowies and the native wildlife that call the mountains home. I support a healthy national park where native species like the Corroboree Frog and Mountain Pygmy Possum can thrive.

    Kind regards,
    [Your name]
    [Your email address]
    [Your postcode]


    Dear Project Team,

    [YOUR PERSONALISED MESSAGE WILL APPEAR HERE.] 

    I support the amendment to the Kosciuszko National Park Wild Horse Heritage Management Plan to allow our incredible National Parks staff to use aerial shooting as one method to rapidly reduce feral horse numbers. I want to see feral horse numbers urgently reduced in order to save the national park and our native wildlife that live there.

    The current approach is not solving the problem. Feral horse numbers have rapidly increased in Kosciuszko National Park to around 18,000, a 30% jump in just the past 2 years. With the population so high, thousands of feral horses need to be removed annually to reduce numbers and stop our National Park becoming a horse paddock. Aerial shooting, undertaken humanely and safely by professionals using standard protocols, is the only way this can happen.

    The government’s own management plan for feral horses states that ‘if undertaken in accordance with best practice, aerial shooting can have the lowest negative animal welfare impacts of all lethal control methods’.

    This humane and effective practice is already used across Australia to manage hundreds of thousands of feral animals like horses, deer, pigs, and goats.

    Trapping and rehoming of feral horses has been used in Kosciuszko National Park for well over a decade but has consistently failed to reduce the population, has delayed meaningful action and is expensive. There are too many feral horses in the Alps and not enough demand for rehoming for it to be relied upon for the reduction of the population.

    Fertility control as a management tool is only effective for a small, geographically isolated, and accessible population of feral horses where the management outcome sought is to maintain the population at its current size. It is not a viable option to reduce the large and growing feral horse population in the vast and rugged terrain of Kosciuszko National Park.

    Feral horses are trashing and trampling our sensitive alpine ecosystems and streams, causing the decline and extinction of native animals. The federal government’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee has stated that feral horses ‘may be the crucial factor that causes final extinction’ for 12 alpine species.

    I recognise the sad reality that urgent and humane measures are necessary to urgently remove the horses or they will destroy the Snowies and the native wildlife that call the mountains home. I support a healthy national park where native species like the Corroboree Frog and Mountain Pygmy Possum can thrive.

    Kind regards,
    [Your name]
    [Your email address]
    [Your postcode]