More than 100,000 live exotic cockroaches have been seized from a commercial breeder in New South Wales in a record-breaking bust linked to the pet trade.
Biosecurity officials seized the animals, which have a commercial value of up to $200,000, from a breeder in Bathurst in the state’s central west this week.
The captured cockroaches included dubia cockroaches and Madagascar hissing cockroaches – one of the world’s largest cockroach species.
The seizure is the largest of illegal exotic invertebrates in Australia. The federal environment department said because the cockroaches cannot be legally imported, they cannot be legally kept, bred or sold no matter how they were obtained.
Exotic cockroaches have not been subject to an environmental risk assessment and their presence in Australia can spread disease and harm native wildlife and agriculture.
“We take our job protecting Australia’s unique biodiversity and breaches of national environment law very seriously,” a spokesperson for the Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water said.
“We’re seeing illegal breeding and trading of exotic cockroaches and we’re putting pet businesses and pet owners on notice.
“If you are found to possess, breed or trade exotic cockroaches such as dubia cockroaches and Madagascar hissing cockroaches they will be seized and you could face penalties under federal law.”
The cockroaches were likely destined for the pet trade, including for use as food for pet reptiles. Dubia cockroaches are a popular food for captive reptiles, but also frogs and some fish.
“Reptile owners who have been using dubia roaches as feeders are encouraged to seek legal alternatives such as crickets and wood roaches,” the spokesperson said.
Dr Carol Booth, policy director at the Invasive Species Council, called it a “shocking discovery” and congratulated authorities “for shutting down this criminal enterprise”.
“It represents a massive biosecurity risk – not just because these foreign cockroaches could establish in the wild and threaten native cockroaches and other insects, but because they could introduce new diseases.”
Booth said Australia had a “rich native cockroach fauna with many beautiful and interesting species” and more than 500 individual species described.
She said the fact there had been breeding of illegal exotic species on the scale identified by the Bathurst raid raised “great concerns about how widespread this illegal trade might be and the potential size of the black market in these and other illegal wildlife”.
Booth said the Australian legal system needed to take cases involving illegal wildlife more seriously, with most crimes attracting low penalties despite the risks to native wildlife and industry. She said departments also needed more resources for investigating the illegal exotic wildlife trade.
“This is one example of a much bigger problem in Australia of illegal sale and keeping of exotic wildlife, including exotic snakes and other reptiles,” she said.
“Unfortunately, there is a growing global trend in keeping exotic invertebrates as pets, including invasive ant species. Biosecurity authorities should pay close attention to this emerging new pathway.”
But Anthony Ramsey, chief executive of the Pet Industry Association of Australia, said the association believed raids of the scale exercised in Bathurst were “heavy‑handed and disproportionate when you consider that comparable species in identical legal circumstances have not attracted anything like this level of enforcement response”.
“PIAA is calling for a coherent national framework that treats like cases alike, rather than singling out one sector for punitive action,” he said.
The NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development is managing the euthanasia and disposal of the seized cockroaches.
Guardian Australia has sought further comment from the environment department.
