Supermarket plagued with rats set to close for 48 hours
By reporter Hamish McNeilly:
A Dunedin supermarket that has been plagued with rats is set to close for 48 hours.
Staff and the union of Countdown Dunedin South store were told on Friday afternoon.
Woolworths New Zealand, which operates the store, confirmed the recent capture of four more rodents has forced the store to close.
Woolworths New Zealand director of stores Jason Stockill said: "Our local community will be aware that we’ve been working to address a rodent issue at Countdown Dunedin South for the last couple of months."
Food safety was the company’s “absolute priority”, with the supermarket giant working closely with the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI), and pest control contractor Rentokil.
“We believed we had addressed the issue, as there had been no evidence of rodent activity since January 28.
Unfortunately we have caught four rodents over the last few days so it is clear we have more work to do.”
NZ Food Safety and Rentokil confirmed the rodents were not nesting in the store, but appeared to be coming in from outside.
The Dunedin City Council was also involved in surveying neighbouring areas, in what the supermarket chain called “a coordinated response”.
“Having a safe and hygienic store is incredibly important to us and we would like to apologise to our customers for any distress and inconvenience this update causes,” Stockill said.
“We will reopen when we are confident these additional measures have been implemented. We anticipate this will be on Monday morning.”
Scam Alert: Fake information regarding December Bonuses from MSD
The Ministry of Social Development is reporting that fake information is circulating about new ‘December bonuses’ or ‘benefit increases’
If you get suspicious communication, please contact Netsafe.
Poll: Do you set New Year’s resolutions?
🎉 2026 is almost here!
We’re curious ... how do you welcome it?
Do you set resolutions, follow special traditions, or just go with the flow?
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10.3% Yes! New Year, New Me
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17.8% Yes - but I rarely stick to them
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71.9% Nah - not for me
Further important update to all Neighbourly members
Dear Neighbours,
We wanted to update you with what we have uncovered in regards to the potential Neighbourly data breach which we were alerted to on Thursday January 1.
Over the past few days we have worked to understand whether our members’ data had been accessed without authorisation and, if so, the extent of the breach.
We have now confirmed that there was a breach of some data from our registered users. We are now satisfied that the breach was quickly contained, and we have restored the Neighbourly site and services.
Our investigations have shown that there was unauthorised access of Neighbourly data, which included our registered members’ names, email addresses, GPS coordinates, forum posts and member communications. It did not include passwords but some publicly advertised event and business addresses were included.
Following best practice, we will look to seek a court injunction against any use of the material.
We want to apologise to our members for this occurrence and any concerns it may have caused you over the past few days. We have, of course, addressed the issue that allowed the theft to occur, and we are satisfied that the site is secure for use by all of our members. We will work closely with all our staff to ensure we have the most robust processes in place to prevent it from happening again.
Thank you to our members who contacted us over this period and for the understanding you have shown as we work through the complex issues associated with cyber theft.
Q&A regarding Neighbourly data breach
The Team at Neighbourly
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