When you arrive in New Zealand, people from Biosecurity check that do not bring any food with you. Because we are an island country, we try to keep out pests from other countries. We are not always successful though. Listen to September 25th 2008 for more about control of pests.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAF) says that it cannot control the Hadda Beetle which was found in Auckland in January. It is already too late to kill all beetles. MAF thinks the Hadda Beetle has probably been in New Zealand around four years and nobody knew about it.
The beetle comes from Asia and the Pacific. Perhaps it came here along with some cargo. The caterpillar is pale yellow with black hairs. The adult beetle is about 10mm long, is yellow/orange in colour with about 26 spots on its back. It’s a bit like a lady bird, but the lady bird is red. Both the caterpillar and beetle feed on the leaves of tomatoes, potatoes and aubergines. They scrape the surface of the leaf until it looks like a lace pattern.
MAF has pulled out plants which have the caterpillar or beetle on it and sprayed in the area but it is too expensive to do more than that. It could cost $50m each year for four years to get rid of the Hadda Beetle.