A prickly environmental threat
BIOSECURITY Queensland officers were out in force at AgGrow, spreading the word about an unassuming yet damaging garden plant.
Opunita Microdasys, commonly known as bunny ears, is a cactus originating from Mexico that could be capable of creating problems similar to those caused by prickly pear last century.
Principal biosecurity officer Duncan Swan said the cactus had been found in gardens in Emerald, at the Willows Gemfields and near Mackay.
He said the plants had been removed but asked residents to alert Biosecurity if they came across anything suspicious in their neighbourhood.
"We're just asking people to be aware of the plant, know what it looks like and obviously report it so we can go and remove it," Mr Swan said.
"It's obviously got the potential to become a big pest just like prickly pear was before the introduction of cactoblastis."
He said it was important to remove the plants before they became a widespread problem.
"We don't have a lot of information because we've only just found it - obviously if we can go out there (and) remove these things from the environment it just removes the potential for it to become a pest.
"(Prickly pear) took over a huge area of Australia before the introduction of cactoblastis, the biocontrol. Cactoblastis may attack this but we just don't know."
He said people would have planted bunny ears innocently, although he's unsure exactly how it arrived.
"These would've been planted specifically as ornamentals and spread like that... not being aware it is a Class 1 pest," Mr Swan said.
"Given this is only a recent detection it could be reasonably widespread in gardens (but) we're not aware of it anywhere in the environment."
If you see any plants like bunny ears, contact Biosecurity Queensland on 4983 7400.
