Innovation at Ekka display to include mini chopper and ant sniffing dog

Published Friday, 22 July, 2016 at 11:06 AM

Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries
The Honourable Leanne Donaldson

The Palaszczuk Government will showcase innovation at this year’s Ekka.

“Innovation takes many forms as visitors to the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries display at the Ekka will see,” Agriculture Minister Leanne Donaldson said.

“We will be featuring fire ant sniffer dogs to highlight the work of our Imported Red Fire Ant Eradication Program.

“Our highly trained odour-detection dog teams are highly sensitive and support our visual surveillance activities by sniffing out any ants that may be hiding underground out of sight,” the Minister said.

“Their use has been critical in Gladstone where we recently completed a final round of surveillance. If no fire ants are found, we will have achieved eradication one and a half years faster than Gladstone’s last infestation in 2006, setting a record in invasive pest eradication.

“Visitors to the Ekka will be able to meet one of our dogs and a dog handler on scheduled days at the DAF display.”

Drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles are increasingly used by producers and DAF will have a miniature helicopter style drone on display.

“We are currently looking at using drones for fire ant remote sensing and surveillance,” the Minister said.

There will be daily giveaways including Rubygem strawberries, Queen Garnet plum nectar and Daintree cocoa, as well as the popular Farm to Feast recipe booklet, postcards and a children’s activity book highlighting farming and pest and weed threats,” she said.

DAF’s site will be located in the Advance Queensland whole-of-government space, on the upper level of the Royal International Convention Centre building.

Biosecurity Queensland will be on site advising stock owners on livestock movement requirements and monitoring animal health and welfare standards.

The Royal Queensland Show, also known as Ekka, opens on 5 August and runs for 10 days.

For more information visit www.daf.qld.gov.au, call 13 25 23 or follow us on Facebook.

 

ENDS

 

Media Contact: 0448 994 172