Driver flies into a rage after discovering cameras monitoring traffic on the Queensland-New South Wales border, but all is not as it seems
- Speed camera simulator used to control cattle ticks
- Ticks cost the meat industry about $160 million annually
A driver who left Queensland for New South Wales was mistakenly outraged after running what appeared to be a well-hidden speeding ticket trap.
The cameras, placed just meters inside the New South Wales border on Tourist Drive in the Tomewin Conservation Park, are just a few of many along the 3,339 km border between the two states that are trying to control the movement of ticks in cattle.
While they look like speed cameras, the devices track vehicles potentially transporting livestock across the border that have not been checked for the devastating insect.
The cattle tick is considered a “significant economic pest of Queensland’s livestock industry,” according to the state’s Department of Business, and all farm animals must be checked at a quarantine station before crossing the border.
“This camera surveillance system offers reliability, efficiency and addresses management issues, including non-compliance with animal movement regulations, to support any possible future tick eradication solutions,” said a spokesperson for the Department of Primary Industries. from New South Wales to Daily Mail Australia.
Meat and Livestock Australia estimates that the tick costs the industry around $160 million each year.
Mistaking cattle tick cameras for speeding cameras, the driver posted a video on TikTok saying “that’s how you know you’re in NSW.”
The driver, trying to clarify the state’s use of speeding cameras, unknowingly pointed out that NSW is the only state that implements cameras to help control the spread of the tick.
NSW expanded the line of cameras to cover all major junctions and numerous minor junctions into the state in 2013 after its introduction in 2008.
“Since 2008, DPI Border Cam has monitored all cattle and blood movements into NSW from the Queensland tick zone at Chindera, Cobaki, Terranora, Tomewin, Numinbah, Richmond Gap, Mount Lindsay and Boonah,” said the spokesman.
The tick has devastated cattle populations in northern Queensland and has spread up the country’s north coast as far as Western Australia.
Heavy tick infestations of cattle cause concern for ticks, an infectious disease caused by bites and blood loss that can sometimes cause death.
“(Cattle ticks) can also transmit three blood-borne tick fever organisms, which cause illness and death in cattle,” writes the Queensland Department of Business website.
The tick also releases paralyzing toxins that can kill calves and smaller domestic animals, such as cats and dogs, and severely affect humans as well.
A driver left shocked by the appearance of a speeding camera just yards from the QLD-NSW border instead highlighted NSW’s attempts to limit the spread of the cattle tick.
NSW is the only state to use cameras to monitor potential livestock transporters spreading the plague that costs Meat and Livestock Australia around $160 million each year.
Despite cameras trying to stop the spread of the deadly parasite, 2020 was the worst year on record for tick infestations in livestock with 170 incidents on the north coast of New South Wales.
The NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) urged farmers to be vigilant and report any sightings of the insect.
“We advise producers to adhere to biosecurity procedures that ensure their herds are protected from tick infestations,” Paul Freeman, senior veterinary officer with the NSW Department of Public Information, said at the time.
‘The cattle tick should be reported as it is a legally reportable disease and producers are encouraged to come to us for support and assistance.
“If ticks are found on cattle, we will work with producers to carry out eradication treatment programs and monitor cattle on adjacent properties to isolate infestations; successful tick eradication from cattle can take 18 months.”
