by Krystal Paco

Guam - The battle with bugs includes the little fire ant. Dr. Ross Miller is a professor of entomology at the University of Guam. Today he spoke before island Rotarians on the topic of "Fire in the Pacific - Little Fire Ant and the Invasion of Guam". The ants were discovered in Guam in November 2011

"the colonies spread pretty gradually over a large area, it causes agricultural problems, forest problems, taking out animals even bird probably, also causes damages to domestic pets, causes blindness and it stings people, so they are a very serious pest I think," he said.

Dr. Miller says the fire ants have the potential for being bad if not worse than the rhino beetle. Currently he says there are 11 sites around the island that they are working to bring under control. The fire ants he adds are typically found around banana trees. In total he anticipates it could cost a quarter of a million dollars to control the fire ants in Guam.