VIDEO STORY

• KEALAKEHE, Hawaii – Hawaii County’s Little Fire Ant Control program is getting another infusion of funding from the state. On Friday, the Hawaii County Council voted to accept $90,000 from the state Department of Agriculture to continue the fight against the invasive pests. (Video: County of Hawaii / voice of Sherry Bracken)

HAWAII COUNTY COUNCIL – July 24, 2015

Hawaii County Council discusses Little Fire Ants on July 24, 2015. Image from Hawaii County video archive.

Resolution 217-15 (later appropriated in Bill 65):

AUTHORIZES THE OFFICE OF THE MAYOR TO ENTER INTO AN AGREEMENT WITH THE STATE OF HAWAIʻI DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE (HDOA), PURSUANT TO HAWAI‘I REVISED STATUTES SECTION 46-7, TO RECEIVE FUNDS FOR THE COUNTY OF HAWAI‘I’S LITTLE FIRE ANT (LFA) CONTROL PROGRAM

Provides $90,000 from HDOA to the Parks and Recreation Department’s LFA Control program to purchase equipment and supplies.

Reference: Comm. 368
Intr. by: Ms. Eoff
Waived: FC

LITTLE FIRE ANT

Little Fire Ant, photo courtesy Hawaii Department Of Agriculture

The Little Fire Ant, or Wasmannia auropunctata, was found on the Big Island in 1999. According to the Hawaii Invasive Species Council:

• Ant is orange-red to light brown in color, all workers are 1.5 mm in length (half the size of a sesame seed, or as long as a penny is thick, about 1/16 “)
• Slow-moving, easily dislodged from leaves, plants
• Native to Central and South America, accidentally introduced as hitchhikers on imported plants
• Delivers a painful sting when disturbed. Welts can last for weeks
• Infests agricultural fields and farms, where they damage crops and sting workers
• Promotes plant pests such as aphids, white flies and scale insects, which secrete plant sap that the ants eat. In turn, the ants protect these insects from natural predators and parasites.
• Can also infest houses, beds, furniture and food
• In the Galapagos, eats tortoise hatchlings and attacks the eyes of adult tortoises