Fried chicken restaurant KFC has been fined $15,000 after one of its Dunedin branches spilled oil and fats into a local stream, which led to the death of two oil-covered ducks.
Restaurant Brands, KFC's parent company, admitted it could have better dealt with the spill from the Kaikorai Valley outlet into the Kaikorai Stream last year.
A grease trap discharged oils and fats into the carpark, a sump and then into a gutter and into the stream, the Otago Daily Times reported.
A customer reported the spill on a Saturday night but nothing was done until the following Wednesday, when the Otago Regional Council discovered a 110m long film of oil on the water as well as mats of fat and oil.
It took two-and-a-half days to clean up the mess.
Fish and Game destroyed two oil-affected ducks and the SPCA cleaned and cared for four ducks over eight days. Fish may also have been affected.
The council prosecuted Restaurant Brands, which now has its first conviction under the Resource Management Act.
Environment Court judge Laurie Newhook accepted the company's ecologist's view that the stream was not of high quality, but said there was a notable level of exotic and natural fauna.
The company's lawyer Mark Davies said the exact cause and location of the blockage remained unknown but it had taken a wide range of steps to ensure it did not happen again or anywhere else. The company has 88 KFC, Starbucks and Pizza Hut outlets throughout the country.
NZN