Japan boosts fight against invasive fire ants as colony of 10,000 found in Vietnam shipment
- Thousands of the venomous ants, including four queens, were discovered in a container at Fukuyama port. The crate was sealed and treated with insecticide
- The bite of a fire ant can cause anaphylactic shock and, in extreme cases, have been reported to have caused death in very young or elderly people
More than 10,000 ants, including at least four queens, were discovered after a worker opened a container that was unloaded at the port of Fukuyama, in Hiroshima Prefecture, and then transported by road to Ibara, in neighbouring Okayama Prefecture. The container was immediately sealed and returned to the port, where it was treated with insecticide.
Kevin Short, a naturalist and professor of cultural anthropology at Tokyo University of Information Studies, said the environment ministry had been aggressively keeping out fire ants including any colonies entering the country but the discovery reinforced the need to be proactive.
“The fear is that these ants could disperse if they get out of a container and travel quite a large distance,” he said. “If that happens and they do get out into the countryside in large numbers, then they could very quickly become firmly established here.
“At the moment, the authorities appear to have been able to contain them in port areas and they will keep doing that,” he said.
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China launches campaign to control fire ants, one of the world’s most hazardous invasive species