Stings raise fears of red fire ants

LAWRENCE GULLERY
A Bay View man is warning of the threat red imported fire ants pose after his son was bitten at a mountain bike track at Esk Valley last week.
Fourteen-year-old Luke Wheeler can still see the lumps where he was bitten by stinging insects about six times on the leg while riding his mountain bike. The bites were under his shin pads.
His dad, Steve Wheeler, said the bites inflamed his son's skin, caused intense pain for an hour and a couple of days later the bites formed a blister on his leg.
Luke said other friends had seen the insects at the track but he was probably the first to be bitten.
Mr Wheeler reported the bites to Ministry of Fisheries' (MAF) Biosecurity New Zealand which said the bites were caused by "flying stinging insects" and not the red imported fire ants.
Mr Wheeler, however, believes MAF should hold public seminars for people living in the Bay View area, especially since an outbreak of the ants was reported at Pan Pac's Whirinaki Mill in June last year.
He said there were about 1000 people from mountain bike clubs which used the track at Esk Valley and that could be "a thousand extra eyes" MAF could use to locate any possible red ant activity.
"At Christmas time they (MAF) closed the mountain bike park to do baiting (for the ants) and it was the first time we became aware there was a problem," Mr Wheeler said.
"I'm a bit concerned about it at a local level. MAF doesn't seem to be keeping us informed.
"This is a nasty bug that has staggering repercussions if it gets away," he said.
Biosecurity spokesman Phil Barclay said the department would be "extremely concerned" if the ants had spread to Eskdale and Bay View without anyone contacting MAF or without its own staff in the area being aware of the matter.
He said Biosecurity depended on the eyes of the public to report unusual exotic organisms and potential pests to MAF's exotic pest and disease hotline (0800 80 99 66).
"The Bay View report of last week was thoroughly investigated. The insects that were reported were flying stinging insects," he said.
"The varieties of red imported fire ants that are able to fly do not sting, and photographs of the blisters did not look like their stings," Mr Barclay said.
He said Biosecurity had been working hard in response to the initial detection of a fire ant nest at Whirinaki last year.