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Related: About this forumHunters Accidentally Shoot One of New Zealand’s Most Endangered Birds
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Left, the endangered takahe; right, the pukeko. (Photos: Getty Images)
http://www.takepart.com/article/2015/08/21/new-zealand-hunters-kill-wrong-birds
AUG 21, 2015 Taylor Hill is an associate editor at TakePart covering environment and wildlife.
There are around 300 colorful, flightless takahe birds left in the world, but thanks to a hunting snafu in New Zealand, there are now four fewer of the critically endangered species.
New Zealands Department of Conservation had allowed hunters to target a similarly coloredbut significantly smaller and more aggressivebird called the pukeko on Motutapu Island, a predator-free site established to protect the takahe. The common pukekos can overtake takahe habitat and threaten the rare birds survival, and culls are one way to manage pukeko numbers.
But authorities discovered the wrong birds had been killed when they found four dead takahe peppered with shotgun pellets on Monday.
We werent formally notified; we actually found the birds when my team were out on the island checking the transmitters, Andrew Baucke, the DOCs conservation services director, told Radio New Zealand. Each of the transmitters have a mortality function on them, so thats how they picked up the dead birds.
FULL story at link.
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Hunters Accidentally Shoot One of New Zealand’s Most Endangered Birds (Original Post)
Omaha Steve
Aug 2015
OP
shenmue
(38,506 posts)1. :(
Oh noes!
Curmudgeoness
(18,219 posts)2. So much for the argument about responsible hunting.
If you are not able to tell the difference, or know exactly what you are shooting, you definitely should not be allowed to hunt. And sadly, it looks like these hunters will not be found.
jpak
(41,760 posts)3. I saw several takahe on Kapiti iIsland - very large dinosaur-like amazing birds
They feed by scraping grass leaves with their beaks.
When they heard me take my camera out of a ziplock bag, they came up running to me - apparently that's their dinner bell.
When I didn't give them anything, they wandered away....