Photo of the week: Great white butterfly eradication

Department of Conservation —  30/11/2016

Today’s photo is of some of the team who helped with the recent eradication of the great white butterfly.

Last week it was announced that the pest had been successfully eradicated from the Nelson Tasman area.

butterfly-team

The butterfly was declared to be eradicated following a scientific assessment of the DOC-led effort by the Ministry of Primary Industries. There has been no sign of the pest butterfly for nearly two years.

The butterfly posed a major economic and environmental threat to New Zealand. The introduced pest threatened our commercial and home brassica crops, and was a serious threat to a variety of native cress plants.

Find out more about the eradication effort on the DOC website.