Biosecurity

A biosecurity breach was avoided in Dunedin this week, thanks to curiosity and communication.

Rooks have been reported in many places in Otago so far this season but, bucking a recent trend, have not been seen in the Strath Taieri area.

Government agencies will be required to control pests such as wilding pines and rabbits on their land, the Government announced yesterday.

Biosecurity officials say the nation's border protection will be strengthened with the doubling of instant fines for false or incorrect border declarations from next week.

Weather conditions, human activity (or a lack of it, in some cases) and a pest's increasing immunity to disease are keeping Central Otago farmers on their guard. The issue? Rabbits ... again.

Didymo is spreading in the upper Waitaki canals, used by Meridian Energy to feed water to its power stations.

An Australian tourist accidentally smuggled a poisonous cane toad into Queenstown inside her hiking boot last week.

Five years since didymo was officially discovered in New Zealand, the invasive alga has spread rapidly through the South Island's rivers, writes Shane Gilchrist.

A lobby group on genetically modified food has accused the Food Safety Authority of "shopping" for advice when a report it commissioned queried the safety of a variety of GM corn.

The battle to stop the spread of the varroa bee mite to the south of New Zealand has been abandoned.