12.00pm
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry is on full alert today after a gypsy moth was caught in Hamilton.
The male specimen -- thought to be an Asian gypsy moth -- caught by MAF's nationwide trapping programme last week, was sent to Forest Research on Friday for further identification, MAF Forest
biosecurity director Peter Thomson said.
"The gypsy moth family has been near the top of MAF's list of unwanted pests for a long time so we have already gone on to full alert," Mr Thomson said in a statement this morning.
MAF has begun a ground search and deployed an intensive "trapping grid", he said.
"As with all surveillance and response activity MAF's aim is to achieve early detection and early eradication.
"We also conduct an automatic 'trace back' to see if the pest has entered on a preventable pathway."
MAF's quarantine service had earlier intercepted specimens of the species on imported goods such as used vehicles.
"Our investigations on the origin of this catch has drawn a possible link to imported tyres or machinery and we will investigate this further."
MAF's gypsy moth trapping programme, set up in 1993, checks more than 1000 traps near ports, airports and industrial areas across the country every two weeks, from October to April.
The moth, a native of Europe and Asia, has severely damaged North American oak forests after its introduction there in the mid-1800s.
However, MAF-commissioned research indicated New Zealand's native trees did not appeal to the moth, and the risk of it becoming established in native forests was low.
- NZPA
Herald Feature: Conservation and Environment
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