Video: Yellow Crazy Ants

Video Transcript

Tanya Bello:

Hi, I’m Tanya, the Community Engagement Officer from Townsville City Council, Townsville Yellow Crazy Management Program. We call ourselves TYCAMP. This year, 2025, we’ve continued the fight against one of the world’s most invasive pests, the yellow crazy ant.
And these ants might be small, but their impact is big on our environment, our economy and our lifestyle. We’ve made good progress this year with targeted treatments, ongoing monitoring, and with the incredible support from our residents across Townsville.

We’ve made good progress this year with targeted treatments, ongoing monitoring, and with the incredible support from our residents across Townsville. But we’ve also faced challenges with new infestations, reminding us that this is a long-term fight. Today, we want you to hear directly from residents about what living with yellow crazy ants has meant for them, the challenges they face, and how together we’ve been working to protect our neighbourhoods, our backyards, and our lifestyle here in Townsville.

Laurence - Resident:

I recognized that there was different ants to our normal species that we get around here. I didn’t know there were actually yellow crazy ants until someone from the council contacted me. They didn’t affect us so much at the start, but then as they increased in numbers,
I noticed that our wallabies were being affected and, it was affecting our possums as well.

I think old animals in particular, are susceptible to it. With the wallabies, I had an old lady who became blind. That's the first time that we really started to get concerned.

Rick - Resident:

It’s all started in 2022, when I was detected at the far end of my property. And then they did find their way onto one section of the property, which had, small buildings and storage in. They did create a problem there. Being aware of what they were capable of was the big important part.

Wayne - Resident:

Yellow crazy ants are affecting us on our grazing property, and there’s, many hundreds of hectares which has been affected by of them. Over the years when the crazy ants has been bad, there hasn’t been many birds. It did appear to shift the cattle off the areas.

David - Resident:

We’ve noticed a significant drop in the wildlife in the area. We’re missing geckos and frogs and birds and, you know, even some of the larger animals, like the macropods and the big snakes haven’t been around.

Angus - Resident:

This was the first site that I’d been involved in with the Crazy Ants and, it was a bit of a nightmare because as you can see, the stuff over there was all contaminated and it was all on the face of the hill, so we had to hand remove it all, put it up there and get treated. We had to get rid of all the grass roots, which was had to be done manually. It was not the way to do it. So it did put like a bigger timeframe on the job.

Laurence - Resident:

People should now recognize them as separate from the normal native ants that we get. Get it onto the council straight away. That would be my advice.

Rick - Resident:

The level of treatment needed to get on top of it, like choppers on the mountain and drone and handguns and everything. So it’s being treated very seriously because it is potentially very serious problem.

Laurence - Resident:

The council people that have been here have been great.

David - Resident:

I can’t fault the teams initiative. No issues with communication or access. And, you know, no one’s pushing buttons. It’s fantastic.

Rick - Resident:

Very listened to, very supported. And, the truth is, in the pudding.

Wayne - Resident:

We still need to have a little bit more information. And I think every everybody is on a learning curve still.

Laurence - Resident:

You need to let people know they are very, very small. I got a bit of a shock when I found out how tiny it was.

Wayne - Resident:

Since the last lot of treatment, there’s a lot more birds come back now. You can hear the birds. The cattle seem to be moving back into the areas now.

Laurence - Resident:

Been a great improvement. We’ve got, no ants around whatsoever.

Rick - Resident:

Definitely help manage the bio-security risks. Definitely got listened to and definitely got assistance with awareness and treatment and follow up treatment. Everyone’s got to join in not just the odd landowner here and there, because then they’ll just move around
wherever they like.

David - Resident:

If we don’t work as a team to fix this, we’re going to be in real trouble.

Laurence - Resident:

Oh, I have to take it seriously. If they if they don’t, they’re going to be they’re going to be driven out of their houses. That's how bad it is.

Tanya Bello:

Thank you to the residents who have shared their stories with us. Since the life of the program, November 2023. We’ve made strong progress in tackling yellow crazy ants, reducing infestations, protecting our environment and keeping our suburbs safer. The program started with ten known infestations that was previously managed by Townsville City Council. TYCAMP have located an additional 29 infestations, bringing our total to 41 infestations across the Townsville Local Government Area.

But this is a challenge we must continue to face as a community. With the support of our residents, Council and our partners, the Australian Government and the Queensland Department of Primary Industries. We’ll keep working hard in 2026 to protect Townsville wildlife, our neighbourhoods and the lifestyle we value. By staying alert, reporting sightings and working together, we can continue to make a real difference.

TYCAMP Team:

Together, we’ve achieved great progress this year. Thanks for being a part of it. Your support helps us stay on top of yellow crazy ants activity. Thank you. Thanks for working with us to keep our wildlife and environment safe.

Tanya Bello:

We look forward to continuing this important work with you next year. Thank you.