An ecologist from Harvard University, who's been surveying ant populations in P.E.I. National Park, says there are no fire ants on the Island yet but he believes it's only a matter of time.
Fire ants have a nasty sting, and swarm when attacking. (USDA Agricultural Research Service) Earlier this summer, communities in Nova Scotia were struggling to control outbreaks of the non-native ant, which has a nasty sting. Since then, P.E.I. has been on the lookout.
Ecologist Aaron Ellison told CBC News Tuesday he didn't find any fire ants in his searches of wetlands, a favoured habitat of the ant, on the North Shore.
But Islanders are going to have to be diligent to keep the pesky red ants out.
"I'm sure the way it's going to get here is it's going to hitchhike on someone's car driving from Halifax up here for a weekend on the beach," said Ellison.
"The most important thing is that visitors to the park need to be aware of what they're bringing in, where they're driving from, keep vehicles clean, don't bring in your own firewood. It's sort of common sense, but the biggest way that exotic ants are going to get into northern sections of the Maritimes is on vehicles."
Ellison said one thing people could do is wash their cars before getting on the ferry or crossing the bridge, a method that's been used in the past so bugs don't migrate from one area to another.
