Tom Rasberry

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Tom Rasberry is an exterminator from Pearland, Texas who first identified the crazy rasberry ant in 2002.[1][2] Rasberry has been key to the fight against the ants, which have been known to short out many different types of electrical apparatuses[3][4] and estimates that he has spent over 2000 hours researching them.[5]

[edit] Hired by NASA

The Johnson Space Center called in Rasberry around March 2008 in an attempt to keep the ants out of their facilities.[6] Rasberry found three colonies at the NASA site, but all have been small enough to control.[2] Rasberry said that "With the computer systems they have in there, it could devastate the facility. If these ants got into the facility in the numbers they have in other locations, well, it would be awful. I've been in this business for 32 years, and this is unlike anything I've ever seen. Anything. When you bring in entomologists from all over the U.S. and they're in shock and awe, that shows you what it's like."[2]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Blumenthal, Ralph (2008-05-16). A Pest Without a Name, Becoming Known to Ever More. The New York Times.
  2. ^ a b c Gaudin, Sharon (2008-05-15). NASA moves to save computers from swarming ants: Attack of the (computer) killer ants - pests taking out machines along Texas gulf coast. Computer World.
  3. ^ "Crazy rasberry ants, size of fleas, wreaking havoc across Texas", New York Daily News / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, 2008-05-14. 
  4. ^ Ball, Linda Stewart (2008-05-14). Ants swarm Houston area, fouling electronics. USA Today / Associated Press.
  5. ^ Beware! Crazy ants on the loose. New England Cable News/ABC News (2008-05-16).
  6. ^ Atkins, William (2008-05-17). Rasberry, we have an ant problem: Exterminator saves NASA from crazy ants. iTWire.
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