DORAL, Fla. – When William Harris took his children to Doral's annual "EGGstravaganza" egg hunt on Saturday, he noticed crews spraying ant killer throughout Doral Central Park, where the festival was held.
"Who sprays pesticides at a kids function?" Harris told WPLG. "For me, common sense tells me that pesticides and children, they don't mix."
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Harris recorded video of a man spraying around the Easter egg hunt site, and said cones marking affected areas were put out after he brought his concerns up to city officials. However, the father felt the cones didn't properly notify parents of the ant spray.
"I'm watching a lady sit down in the grass and they're feeding their children Easter egg candy in a freshly sprayed area that I know I saw the guy spray in," Harris said. "I saw a kid playing on one of the cones, hugging it, sitting down on it."
Doral parks and recreation officials said the city was only spot spraying for fire ants in the area.
"We actually do the spot spraying two or three days before the event and what we do the morning of is check to see if they're still active or not," Barbie Hernandez, Doral parks and recreation director, said.
Hernandez said crews were working to protect the community from those fire ants, but concerned parents are now insisting that they should have been informed about the risk.
Hernandez said the chemical that was sprayed for the fire ants was bifenthrin and that crews mix in water to dilute it before they sprayed it.
She said Doral will make an effort to clearly mark areas during future events and will also clearly identify what chemicals are used.