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Belgian teenagers found with 5,000 ants to be sentenced by Kenyan court in two weeks (www.euronews.com)

submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Two Belgian teenagers who were found with thousands of ants valued at more than €8,000 and allegedly destined for European and Asian markets will be sentenced in two weeks, a Kenyan magistrate has said.

Njeri Thuku, sitting at the court in Kenya's main airport, said she would not rush the case but would take time to review environmental impact and psychological reports filed in court before passing sentence on 7 May.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago (2 children)

KWS had said all four suspects were involved in trafficking the ants to markets in Europe and Asia and that the species included messor cephalotes, a distinctive, large and red-coloured harvester ant native to East Africa.

The ants are bought by people who keep them as pets and observe them in their colonies.

why are pet ants so expensive?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago

They are often considered a invasive species and can easily proliferate out of control disrupting the natural ecosystem.

It's not a person problem, it's a people problem. Think about how many shitty pet owners exist right now, and then how many strays are out on the streets because randoms that don't give a shit are allowed unregulated access to these animals. Throwing ants into this mix leads to a cataclysmic environmental situations very quickly.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

€8,104/5,400 ants = €1.50 per ant. I don't know how many ants you need to make a full colony, but a few hundred ants or euros doesn't seem so expensive. Especially for a serious hobbyist, this might have been all for one buyer.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

One queen is all it takes really. They would kickstart the whole thing starting with first few relatively weaker workers due to the queen lack of resources.