A rare rainbow skink was put down yesterday after being found by a schoolgirl on Emerson St in Napier.
The invasive Australian skinks, which have a distinctive iridescent rainbow striped scale pattern that shines in the light, are devastating for native species.
Chelsea Price, 17, spotted the skink sitting on a wall
on Emerson St outside Glassons. "It looked like a toy from a $2 shop. I thought, oh my gosh, is that real?"
Miss Price captured the skink and took it to the Department of Conservation "just in case it was rare or endangered".
The skink was a baby and only a few inches long. She named it Emerson after where it was found.
Rainbow skinks were classed as an invasive pest by DoC in the 1960s.
The lizards had contributed to the rapid decline of New Zealand's 35 native species of skink.
"Rainbow skinks have the same living requirements as the native skinks and geckos and tend to take over their natural habitat," DoC Ranger Gabriela Gomez Fell said.
The species breeds rapidly and could easily outperform the native skinks competing for the same resources.
Ms Gomez Fell believed the skink came from Auckland where they have become a widespread problem. "When people move things around the country they can often get transported in a box or something."
Rainbow skinks were first recorded in Auckland in the 1960s. Since then, there had only been one sighting in Hawke's Bay. "We are very much hoping we won't find more in this region."
DoC euthanased the skink to protect local species.
