Homelessness, lagging heath care, under-funded schools, infrastructural deficits, and a myriad of other challenges face our island communities. Yet with all of that, the invasion of little fire ants (LFA) in Hawaii stands out (excruciatingly, if you’ve been bitten) as an example of how “shrink government” mentality has squeezed the ability of “We the People” to prevent and solve a plethora of crises including the spread of extremely damaging invasive species like LFA. It’s time for that to change.
In a recent letter, a contributor stated that all state government leaders are idiots for not providing a “mere” $200,000 of taxpayer money for a viability study to create a regional shooting range. For people who live far below such a stratosphere of advantage or who experience any of the challenges listed above, it’s hard to imagine that the “challenges to be solved” on our island means prioritizing and chipping in for a place to shoot guns, no matter whether you own guns or your position on that issue.
In any case, some facts: LFA aren’t any old fire ant. This species (Wasmannia aurpunctata) is considered to be in the top 100 of most dangerous invasive species in the world.
LFA colonies have two to three queens, an anomaly which gives them resiliency unlike most other ant species. And LFAs are smart: treatment with one type of bait can only go on for a few months before they sense that their species is being killed. This makes things tricky, creating a need to find and switch to another effective chemical bait every several months.
The bites of LFAs are painful and can lead, in some cases, to anaphylaxis, the most severe type being anaphylactic shock, in humans and pets. Though not proven, some pet owners claim that LFA bites cause cloudy eyes and impaired vision in their pets. One dog owner in Keauhou told me their dog was bitten and needed to be treated immediately when it began having trouble breathing.
LFA don’t come down to the ground to feed if their colony is above ground. In fact, they generally travel only short distances to find food — a few feet in many cases. A person can set peanut butter tests on the ground and find no LFA while there can still be thousands, or even millions (in truth, billions), of ants living and multiplying in the upper reaches of shrubs and trees, just waiting for the wind to blow or tree trimmers to dislodge and move them — sending them out to populate even more areas.
LFAs can make farming a nightmare, render properties unlivable, make natural ecosystems uninhabitable (even exclude birds from their nesting sites), lower quality of life, and possibly even lower property values beyond what a chorus of coqui frogs could do.
Thankfully there’s some good news. LFA were recently eradicated from Kauai through a collaborative state effort. It seems like a much bigger, if not impossible, task to rid Hawaii Island of all that are here, but with cooperation among neighbors, communities, and government, some areas that are now infested could become LFA free, or some may never become home to LFAs, and others may only need minimal treatment to keep LFAs at bay.
At the time of this writing, there appears to be only one, small, government-supported pilot program for LFA control. Unfortunately, it’s limited to properties or subdivisions 10-20 acres and includes other caveats. It’s a start, but our island needs more. And we need it now.
Hawaii’s Guiding Principles for our state’s kuleana include ensuring “that resources are directed at those problems that pose the greatest risk to the public’s health and the environment” and “that appropriate and cost-effective resources are dispersed geographically and satisfy [those] principles.”
You can help educate and put pressure on local officials by asking them to appropriate crucial funding for programs to help eliminate the immense public health hazard that LFAs pose. If you’ve experienced little fire ants or don’t ever want to, please contact your West Hawaii state reps, including Reps. Nicole Lowen at replowen@capitol.hawaii.gov; Richard Creagan repcreagan@capitol.hawaii.gov, Sens. Josh Green at sengreen@capitol.hawaii.gov, Lorraine Inouye seninouye@capitol.hawaii.gov, and Gov. David Ige gov@hawaii.gov.
Janice Palma-Glennie is a resident of Kailua-Kona