Our Guest Speaker - Ken Brown, President of the Auckland Beekeepers Club

The Yellow-Legged Hornet Response: Protecting New Zealand’s Bees and Biosecurity

In 2025, New Zealand faced an incursion of the yellow-legged hornet (Vespa velutina), an invasive predator of honey bees and other insects. This talk provides a behind-the-scenes look at the response effort, from the first detections through to surveillance, tracing, nest destruction, and public engagement. Ken Brown will share practical insights into how government agencies, contractors, scientists, volunteers, and beekeepers worked together to prevent the hornet from becoming established in New Zealand.

The presentation will explore the challenges of finding and destroying nests, the importance of biosecurity surveillance, and some of the lessons learned that may help prepare New Zealand for future pest incursions. Along the way, Ken will share stories and pictures from the field and explain why protecting pollinators matters to food production, biodiversity, and the wider economy.

Ken Brown is President of the Auckland Beekeepers Club, a beekeeper, educator, and biosecurity practitioner with a strong interest in honey bee health and invasive species management. He is an AP2 (Authorised Person 2) with New Zealand Bee Health & Biosecurity and has contributed to surveillance programmes for American foulbrood, small hive beetle, and other exotic bee pests.

Ken was actively involved in New Zealand’s yellow-legged hornet response and has supported training, tracing, surveillance, risk management, and field operations. He teaches apiculture through formal courses and community groups and regularly writes and speaks on beekeeping, biosecurity, and pollinator health.