Rhea McColl: OSPRI New Zealand Limited

Date: 6pm, Thursday, 13 April 2023

Venue: Hawke’s Bay Holt Planetarium – Chambers Street, Te Awa, Napier

Admission: Gold coin donation

The Hawke’s Bay area northwest of Napier has seen a significant increase in TB infected herds since April 2019. OSPRI (a partnership between primary industries and government) identified TB in possums, deer and farmed cattle in the area, and DNA testing indicates the TB outbreak originated in possums. This lecture will describe the outbreak and how OSPRI has been – and still are – dealing with it.

Rhea grew up on a sheep and beef farm in Northern Taranaki, and gained a bachelor of Agriculture Science at Massey University in Palmerston North. During this time, she also worked on a dairy farm in Northland, a sheep and beef farm in Eastern Tararua and in a shearing gang in Taranaki. After the study at Massey, she became a teacher as a vocational training provider, teaching agriculture to students who want to work on farms. Rhea moved to Hawke’s Bay and worked at PGG Wrightson in Hastings for 2 ½ years before she started with OSPRI in June 2021, primarily focusing on education and engaging with OSPRI’s many stakeholders across the East Coast.