00:00Burrowing its way into four new suburbs, the Shot Hole Borer crossing containment lines
00:08and alarming fruit growers in Perth's hills.
00:11They'll have to be cut down, that's their livelihood.
00:14You know the orchards have a hard enough time as it is to lose their orchards, just be so
00:20devastating to them.
00:24The Shot Hole Borer was first detected in Perth back in 2021, sparking a 41 million
00:30dollar national biosecurity response.
00:33Since then about 3,000 infected trees have been cut down and hundreds of others have
00:38had branches locked.
00:40The spread of the borer continued but was contained within a strict quarantine zone
00:45until now.
00:46Look it's not surprising as part of the eradication and containment plan it was always expected
00:52that our officers would be searching on the outer limits of the quarantine zone.
00:57The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development told the ABC the pest has been
01:02found in about 12 maple and coral trees outside the quarantine area, with those trees either
01:09removed or being treated.
01:11Deep Herd also says it's now reviewing the quarantine area boundary.
01:16The department is throwing everything at it, we literally have hundreds of staff today
01:21working on containing the Shot Hole Borer.
01:24To assist the department's strategy to stop the pest, the city of Kalamunda is not disclosing
01:29where exactly its two infected trees are.
01:32As it's worried people might try and prevent authorities from removing them.
01:36It's also concerned about the location of the trees given a national park is nearby.
01:42A researcher keenly following the developments heard the government's call for scientists
01:47to offer their opinions.
01:49A call he says hasn't happened yet.
01:52It's a very promising sign that the government is open to hear from other voices with other
01:57expertise that is complementary to the expertise in Deep Herd.
02:01He also says this new spread is a result of people moving infested plant material to these
02:07areas.
02:08A big battle against a tiny pest.
Comments