In the news

Waikato promo bag contained a 'hitchhiker' pest: It may look a bit like a colourful, spotty moth, but the insect discovered in a Hamilton man’s tool bag just before Christmas is on everyone’s watchlist. The Spotted Lanternfly (SLF), one of ‘Kiwifruit’s Most Unwanted’ was found dead in a bag recently imported and given out as a promotion to new painting apprentices and after investigation there were fortunately no further detections.

Traveller hailed biosecurity champion after reporting bug: Although passenger numbers aren’t what they were pre-Covid, detections close to home remind us there is still great risk of threats reaching our borders. A Victorian woman recently returning home to Australia (via Italy) found a Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB) in her quarantine room after she settled in and opened her backpack. She immediately contained it and called the local biosecurity hotline.