Australia: Arrival of insect could lead to “ecological disaster”
Visitors to Australia face a larger-than-normal array of dangers; shark attacks, venomous snakes and spiders, not to mention the searing heat that affects most of the country for large parts of the year.
Now a new terror has arrived, and while humans are most definitely at risk, its arrival is also being dubbed as a “looming ecological catastrophe”. The problem is the arrival of the “yellow crazy ant”, a six-legged pest that sprays acid over everything that gets in its way.
It can blind human beings and has already killed an incredible 20 million red crabs on the Australian territory of Christmas Island, in the Indian Ocean. The ants have been found all over Arhnem Land, in the country’s Northern Territory, and scientists are calling for government help in dealing with the pest.
The Daily Telegraph quoted one Aboriginal park ranger thus: “The ant will destroy our culture, our land, our life,” while ecological experts have called the ant invasion “an ecological disaster of the highest degree”.
