Study Seeks Fire Ant
Effects On Wildlife

LUBBOCK —(AP)— While others worry about the damage fire ants do to livestock, some Texas Tech researchers are studying whether the pests are reducing the state's wildlife population.

A group of Tech researchers captured 26 pregnant does from a deer refuge last year and divided them among eight pens — four treated for fire ants, four left untreated. They did the study at Welder Wildlife Refuge 40 miles northwest of Corpus Christi.

The researchers believe fire ants who don't kill newborn fawns with their stings may make them move around when they should keep still to avoid predators.

Economically, it's also valuable to protect wildlife from the stinging pests, the researchers say.

"Land is more valuable when deer are on it," graduate student Wayne Brown told the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. "Deer are worth a lot of money. If something like fire ants is going to affect deer when they're young, it affects the population.

"Right now we have a very healthy deer population," he said. Fire ants "aren't going to endanger the population, but considering the economic impact, any change is significant."

Harlan Thorvilson, a plant and soil science professor at Tech who's working on the fire ant problem, said there is good reason to protect wildlife.

"Deer hunting and lease income for ranchers is important," Thorvilson said. "The effect of an invasive population (of fire ants) on native animals is important. If ranchers knew more about this — and wildlife managers and farmers — maybe there could be economic controls."

The problem right now, Thorvilson said, is that all evidence of wildlife depletion is anecdotal, based on the experiences of a rancher here, a farmer there. That's why research is important, he said.

"We're not going to be getting rid of fire ants," Brown, the graduate student, told the newspaper. "It's misleading to say (programs) are aimed at eradication. We have to keep (fire ants) at a manageable level."