Just getting to this because, well, I was not aware of the Kenyan queen ant market.
From the BBC, May 7:
A Kenyan court has sentenced four men to one year in prison or pay a fine of $7,700 (£5,800) for trying to smuggle thousands of live queen ants out of the country.
The four suspects – two Belgians, a Vietnamese and a Kenyan – were arrested last month with live ants suspected to have been destined for collectors in Europe and Asia.
They had pleaded guilty to the charges, with the Belgians telling the court that they were collecting the highly sought-after ants as a hobby and didn't think it was illegal.
But delivering the sentence on Wednesday, the judge said the particular species of ants collected was valuable and they had thousands of them — not just a few.
"While collecting a few ants might be considered a hobby, being found with 5,000 queen ants is beyond a hobby," said Magistrate Njeri Thuku.
"Already the world has lost a number of species due in part to greed. It is time to stem this tide."
She added: "This court will do what it can to protect all creatures great and small."
The contraband included giant African harvester ants, which are valued by some UK dealers at up to £170 ($220) each....
....MUCH MORE
So, a million bucks at wholesale? I always thought kids who had ant farms were weird but maybe they were on to something.
