New Zealanders are being encouraged to keep an eye out for yellow-legged hornets over the holiday season, as authorities expect to find more in the next few months.
By Torika Tokalau of Local Democracy Reporting
Yellow-legged hornets (Vespa velutina), a pest hornet not known to be established in New Zealand, are a biosecurity concern due to the potential impact on honeybee and wild bee populations.
The hornet primarily feeds on bees, wasps, and flies, may compete with native insects and birds for food, and has a painful sting.
To date, there has been been reported sightings only in Auckland — with the discovery of queen hornets and nests in the Glenfield and Birkdale areas.
As of December 22, 38 queen hornets have been found, with 25 of those hornets found with nests.
North Shore councillor Richard Hills said everyone should be keeping a look out for hornets this summer.
He said he was grateful to North Shore residents for reporting sightings which helped in efforts to eradicate them.
"What I do want to add is that we don’t want people killing the potential hornets, it's good for MPI to follow and track the hornets back to their nests," Hills said.
He said they were hopeful the hornets were contained to the North Shore.
"We cannot be sure, so, we encourage all Aucklanders to be on the lookout for these hornets in and around their homes and also on their walks through our reserves and native bush."
When looking for hornets and their nests, the Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) advises people to check common nesting areas such as eaves of houses, sheltered entrances, wooden structures, carports, under wooden decks, sheds, and outbuildings.
Also check boats, caravans, or camper vans before using them to avoid moving nests around, and when gardening, look out for signs of hornet activity and take care not to disturb their nests.
Biosecurity New Zealand commissioner North, Mike Inglies said the best surveillance tool they have right now is for people to report any sightings of suspected hornets or hornet nests.
Inglies said they've had great response from the public so far, with more than 7075 notifications received.
"Our team will be working over the holiday season as we continue to track and eradicate the hornet," Inglis said.
"Our intensive ground surveillance work and operations across Auckland's North Shore to find hornet nests has been working well with more than 6540 ground surveys completed, and that will continue as we move through summer."
He said based on overseas experience, science told them more hornets may be found in the next few months.
"And we’re prepared for that."
All queen yellow-legged hornets have been found in Zone A (red circle) — a 1km buffer around detections.
A total of 780 traps have been put in place, out of a 11km radius from where the hornets were found in Glenfield and Birkdale.
Inglis said international experts guiding their response were providing the most up-to-date advice and information about the hornet, which was helping their work.
A team of hornet experts from the United Kingdom were due to visit in January, and work with Biosecurity New Zealand to attach advanced trackers to hornets so they could be traced back to nests.
"As the weather continues to warm, hornets can start to make bigger nests high up in trees and this technology from the Netherlands will help us find and destroy them alongside our continuing surveillance work on the ground.
"If the public can continue to keep an eye while they are enjoying their Christmas break, that will help the work we are doing."
People can report sightings by calling the exotic pest and disease hotline on 0800 809 966, email info@mpi.govt.nz or online at report.mpi.govt.nz.
Local Democracy Reporting is local-body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
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