No one likes fire ants. People who live in areas with fire ants spend time trying to rid their yards of fire ants and also trying to teach their children and pets to stay away from the distinctive mounds.Charles Pinkston, a regional home grounds agent with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, says the fourth Don’t Bug Me webinar set for Friday, May 3 will help parents and others learn how to protect others from fire ants. Pinkston is the host for the free webinar set for 1 p.m. Central Daylight time.
Pinkston says Dr. Bastiaan Drees, a Professor of entomology with the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service will be the webinar’s primary presenter.
Drees says education is an important part of protecting children and others from fire ant stings.
“Education is critical,” says Drees. “Children and guests, especially those who don’t live in areas with fire ants, need to recognize the threat that fire ant mounds pose in the landscape.”
“They need to understand that if they step on a mound that fire ants are very defensive and will swarm up en masse and sting seemingly at one time.”
Drees says around one percent of the population are hypersensitive to the insect venom and a large number of fire ants stings can cause a medical emergency.
Pinkston says the webinar will also include information on how to best manage fire ants in the landscape so that people can reduce the threat of stings from the pest.
Listen to Dr. Drees talk more about the webinar and the topics that will be covered here.
This webinar is part of the 2013 Don't Bug Me Webinar Series, brought to you by eXtension and its participating Cooperative Extension Institutions. The series is coordinated by the Imported Fire Ant eXtension Community of Practice. See http://www.extension.org/pages/66408/dont-bug-me-webinar-series-2013
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