In 1938, the merchant steamer SS Robin Goodfellow was caught in the Great New England Hurricane. On board the ship were some unique passengers: two Giraffes. Those Giraffes, caught in a storm that killed hundreds of people, were en route to San Diego, California, and the storm was only the beginning of their cross-country journey.
Solenopsis invicta, the “Red Imported Fire Ant”, native to South America, has proven a tenacious and destructive pest in the United States, costing Americans billions of dollars every year. That is why, in the late 1950s, the United States embarked on an all out war against the six-legged menace.