Townsville City Council is working with Recon Eco to help eradicate Yellow Crazy Ants – all with the help of a detection dog named Jet.
Jet is an English Springer Spaniel that has been trained to detect the scent of Yellow Crazy Ants and is in Townsville for 10 days of surveying.
Community Health and Environment Committee Chair Cr Ann-Maree Greaney said having a detection dog on board is a huge benefit to Council staff.
"Jet has been trained as a wildlife conservation detection dog and is fantastic at finding where a particular species – in this case Yellow Crazy Ants – might be hiding," Cr Greaney said.
"Each dog is trained to locate specific animals and has an incredibly keen sense of smell.
"We're extremely lucky to have Jet here helping our environmental team map any Yellow Crazy Ant locations."
Trials showed that detection dogs are able to locate targeted species up to 357% more effectively than humans.
Division 10 Councillor Les Walker said Council has been working hard to eradicate Yellow Crazy Ants in the Townsville region.
"Yellow Crazy Ants are an invasive species and are terrible for the biodiversity in the area," Cr Walker said.
"Council has been working with the community to map where colonies of the ants have been found and then eradicate them.
"I would really like to thank Recon Eco and Jet for coming on board to help our Environment team."
