Biosecurity and your pets

An eradication programme has been completed in the Waikato region with Biosecurity New Zealand in partnership with the Waikato Regional Council and the Department of Conservation. We need your help to keep an eye out and report any suspected sightings.

The European alpine newt is a threat to endemic frogs, terrestrial invertebrates, and native freshwater life through predation, competition, and disease.

European alpine newt fact sheet [PDF, 694 KB]

Widespread throughout New Zealand.

Ferrets are small predators and pose a serious threat to native species. They prey on a variety of native species birds, lizards, frogs, eggs, eels and insects.

Ferrets – Department of Conservation

Widespread in northern North Island. Koi carp are managed by the Department of Conservation through a containment area in Auckland and Hamilton.

Koi carp contribute to poor water quality, bank erosion, and compete against native freshwater fish.

Koi carp – Department of Conservation

Widespread in northern North Island.

Mosquito fish compete against and are aggressive towards native freshwater fish. They breed rapidly and eat larvae of native insects in large quantities.

Gambusia – Department of Conservation

Widespread in northern North Island since the 1960s.

Plague skinks were detected in Marlborough in 2018 and an elimination programme was established by Biosecurity New Zealand in collaboration with the Marlborough District Council and the Department of Conservation. The programme commenced in late 2023.

Plague skinks pose a threat to our rare native lizards and other native plants and animals. They breed rapidly and put pressure on existing threatened native lizard populations.

Plague skinks – Department of Conservation

Not established in the wild.

General permission to breed, sell, and move for the purposes of retaining as a captive rainbow lorikeet.

Rainbow lorikeets compete with native birds by dominating their food sources and nesting sites.

Find out more

Rainbow lorikeet

Rainbow lorikeet – Department of Conservation

Not established in the wild.

Occasionally sighted, most likely after releases of caged birds held illegally in New Zealand or from vessels entering port.

Red-vented bulbuls have an aggressive nature which threaten native species. They also inflict damage to fruit and vegetable crops.

General permission to breed, sell and move for the purposes of retaining as a captive rose-ringed parakeet.

Rose-ringed parakeet is a potential threat to agriculture and horticulture. It can spread parrot-specific diseases to native parrots, including kakapo. They can occur in large flocks, and in India are considered one of the most destructive pests of cereal, nut, and fruit crops.

Rose-ringed parakeets could also compete for nest holes with native hole-nesting species.

Rose-ringed parakeet – NZ Birds Online

Auckland (rules only apply when an animal is not held in secure containment).

Threat: Likely to prey on native invertebrates, competes with native lizards and birds. May spread disease to native reptiles. May bite people.

Auckland region – surveillance pest.

Threat: Likely to prey on native invertebrates, smaller lizards, birds, and their eggs. May compete with native species for food and resources. May spread disease and parasites to other reptiles.

Bay of Plenty, Horizons.

Threat: Damage to grain and fruit crops. Competition with native bird species. Potential to spread avian diseases.

Auckland (rules only apply when an animal is not held in secure containment).

Threat: Likely to prey on small terrestrial, freshwater and inter-tidal fauna, may impact plants through herbivory. May spread disease to other reptiles.

Most regions.

Threat: Preys on invertebrates and native bird eggs and chicks, competes for cavities with cavity-nesting birds. Selective browsing on vegetation can eliminate preferred species, causing altered forest composition and canopy collapse of palatable species. Can act as a vector for bovine TB and compete with livestock for pasture.

Threat: Red-eared slider turtles are classified as one of the “world's worst invasive alien species” by the World Conservation Union's (IUCN) Invasive Species Specialist Group. Adult turtles can become aggressive and will attack species larger than themselves and are known to take over nesting sites of water birds for use as basking sites.

Auckland (rules only apply when an animal is not held in secure containment).

Threat: Preys on native invertebrates. May spread disease to native reptiles.

Horizons, Canterbury and Auckland (rules only apply when an animal is not held in secure containment).

Threat: Impacts native plant species through bark stripping, beak-inflicted damage and consumption of growing tips, seeds, flowers and fruit. May spread Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease to native parrots. Damages nut, fruit and cereal crops.

Threat: Big-headed ants are omnivorous. They feed on invertebrates and small vertebrates (for example, hatching birds) and also harvest seeds. This has direct and indirect effects on invertebrate communities, vegetation and ecosystem processes. They are aggressive to other ant species and can reach high densities due to a lack of inter colony aggression.

Big headed ant – Northland Regional Council