DOC planning mass killing of weka

Email
Print

Wed, 05 May 2010 5:24p.m.

The killing is to protect rare geckos, skinks and an indigenous leech, which are themselves threatened by the weka

The killing is to protect rare geckos, skinks and an indigenous leech, which are themselves threatened by the weka

By Patrick Gower

3 News has learned the Department of Conservation is planning to kill the entire weka population on two remote islands off the West Coast of the South Island.

The weka is a cheeky, pesky little bird and the mass extermination will see around 100 native birds killed off.  

The killing is to protect rare geckos, skinks and an indigenous leech, which are themselves threatened by the weka.

The dead birds may be given to local Maori for food.

Bird lover Mike Bennett is fighting to save up to 100 of the birds, which DOC wants to eradicate from the uninhabited Open Bay Islands off the West Coast.

“The people of New Zealand own those wekas,” says Mr Bennett.

Publicly DOC is saying no decision has yet been taken, but 3 News has obtained internal emails which show its intent on the weka cull.

DOC is planning on advising the Minister of Conservation that "euthanasing" the weka is "legal and defendable” and its "duty".

DOC wouldn't appear on camera, but it has the support of the Maori trust that owns the islands.

The trust says the weka were introduced a century ago and are threatening a rare gecko, a skink and a native leech.

And Doc isn't ruling out allowing what's being called a 'cultural harvest' of the weka - in ordinary terms that's killing them for local Maori to eat.  

Mr Bennett says slaughtering weka for food is “abhorrent”.

“We'll be eating people next.”

DOC has wanted to get the weka off the island for years. Killing them is the easiest option because they're hard to catch.

DOC has the power under the Wildlife Act but only if the minister agrees.

Mr Bennett says Minister of Conservation Kate Wilkinson needs to bring a stop to the killing.  

“I think she needs to take a firm grip on the controls, and say ‘I am the boss’. She has the bureaucrats to advise her but the buck stops with her,” he says.

Ms Wilkinson says she needs for information before making a judgment.

“Well the weka are a native species and of course I have an interest in native species as the Minister for Conservation, but again I have to get the full facts of what's happening down there,” she says.  

Killing one native species to save another is a hard decision and questions will be asked about whether DOC has kept its minister and the public properly informed.

3 News

Become a fan of 3 News on Facebook and on Twitter.

Post a Comment

Before commenting, please take the time to read our moderation guide


(Won't be published)



Comments

06 May 2010 05:59p.m.

chris wrote:

Hang on a minute, exterminate all the weka? how? poison, and then give them to some one to eat!!! could be a major problem here or maybe not. They couldn't exterminate apple moth, rabbits, rock snot and a few other environmental undesirables but I suppose key hole surgery ( like for a coal mine) and anything is possible. I wonder if they have tried the pied piper of fiordland (a wee hamlet down there somewhere)

06 May 2010 04:49p.m.

JD wrote:

This is going to turn into a PR disaster for DOC, if they go ahead with this cull. Weka have only just made a come back in the Nelson region, after a absence of 30 years. Send them down this way, they will be more than welcome in our bush. As for saving face with the Iwi they have promised the weka too, a few buckets of KFC should do the trick.

06 May 2010 12:19p.m.

Cliff wrote:

I'd like to is weka relocate to the mainland.I Haven't seen them at Haast,has Mick Bennett?

06 May 2010 10:32a.m.

LB wrote:

ITMaori,
Just remember more than likely you have pakeha in you and you talk of hypocrisy.

06 May 2010 09:01a.m.

ITMaori wrote:

That's the pakeha for you and you wonder why this country is in a mess. 1- they go and sue the Norwegians 2- then they want to go & cull the weka by killing them. always said there was hypocrisy in those ivory towers. As for the comment that Maori get handouts, wake up you louse its your government that does these things but then that's what they have always done to the indigenous people of countries that they commandeered and they are left at the bottom of the heap - SO GET A LIFE'

06 May 2010 04:31a.m.

?Toby wrote:

Let's bring back the Norwegians! Because maybe shooting a bird is the most despicable, pernicious thing a human can do.

06 May 2010 12:08a.m.

LB wrote:

Can't they relocate the birds to the mainland or another island?

05 May 2010 11:58p.m.

JD wrote:

DOC lays charges against five Norwegian hunters over the shooting of several native birds; this viking horde are demonised by government ministers and the media. Before the ink is even dry on the charge sheet, we are informed that DOC are happily going to slaughter 100 native Weka, because a couple of native lizards are consumed by the Weka for lunch. Does this appear to smack of hypocrisy.

05 May 2010 11:29p.m.

Save The Weka wrote:

A "Save the Weka" Group has been set up on facebook. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=116598305041519&ref=ts Please show your support by joining the group...

05 May 2010 11:18p.m.

Sad news for NZ wrote:

Killing a native bird like the Weka is awful. To make it worse DOC is going to give them to local Maori to eat. This is wrong on so many levels. Firstly, don't the Maori's get enough handout from the government? Secondly, surely we have the ability to catch and release the Wekas. Their numbers have declined so much over the years. I would think that catch and release would help the mainland Weka population. Many of the "killing policies" that DOC has brings shame to NZ and now killing these wonderful funny little birds just adds to the shame. I hope they reconsider the decision to kill the Wekas.