In the news

Biosecurity awareness needs work: The Minister of Agriculture and Biosecurity says more work needs to be done to help New Zealanders understand biosecurity threats. A recent survey has found more than 60 per cent of New Zealanders think biosecurity is important, but only 2 per cent think they would be personally affected by a breach.

Scientists sic Samurai Wasps on stink bugs: US researchers released the wasps as a biocontrol agent against the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB) on 56 farms and agricultural sites and found ‘as a biocontrol agent, the wasp is not only very effective at reducing the population of BMSB, but the least environmentally damaging of all the options for controlling this pest in both the urban and agricultural system’.

Biosecurity nightmare halted at border: A traveller’s grisly gift for his family did not make it past Auckland airport biosecurity officers - arriving from Apia late June, the passenger declared a bat’s head to staff which was seized and destroyed. Bats have a terrible reputation as disease carriers and the item could have harboured hitchhiker pests.