Fears protected birds shot for food

The shooting deaths of protected wading birds have outraged conservationists and iwi.
It has also given rise to concerns local iwi may have taken the birds in a "customary food harvest".
Bar tailed godwits, dotterils, oystercatchers and lesser knots, all protected under the Wildlife Act, were left wounded and dying after the shoot-up at Okaro Creek on Sunday, February 27.
A Pouto resident said he saw people arrive at the estuary at a remote part of Pouto Peninsula in a runabout at high tide, when many godwits were gathered at the roosting site.
The unidentified men blasted away at the birds with an automatic shotgun, the witness said.
They then gathered up dead birds, threw them into the boat and raced off.
Department of Conservation, Forest and Bird and other conservation groups are hoping a prosecution will follow should the culprits be found.
Injured birds were found at the scene a week later by Whangarei conservationist Steve Westgate during a routine beach profile survey.
A former Northland Conservation Board member and chairman of Forest and Bird, Mr Westgate said he first thought the birds had been mauled by a dog.
"I was absolutely appalled to see these wounded birds, and at the fact they had just been left to die."
He said there was some suggestion the slaughter was a cultural harvest such as those rumoured to have occurred at sites in the Far North in recent years.
Godwits were a traditional food for early Maori who caught them in snares at this time of year when the birds were fat from a summer of feeding before their return to the sub-arctic.
Deborah Harding, chief executive of the area's iwi, Te Uri o Hau, was yesterday trying to find out more about the incident which anecdotally had landed at the feet of local Maori.
"Like most forest birds, too, the kuaka, or godwits, were once a traditional seasonal food so I'm not going to reject that assumption," Ms Harding said.
"But there is no longer any cultural or customary harvesting of these precious birds and the manner in which these birds were taken or left to die is far from customary or acceptable."
Ms Harding said the incident went against what Te Uri o Hau was trying to achieve as the lead agent in the Integrated Kaipara Management Group, working to enhance and protect the harbour.
"We certainly want to help DoC work toward ensuring this doesn't happen again."
Warkworth-based Forest and Bird researcher and field officer Karen Baird said no one was certain why the birds had been taken although it appeared to be a "harvest".
"But this has no relevance to culture or tradition. These people blasted away and left birds bleeding and dying.
"Forest and Bird heartily condemn this act by cowboys who obviously set out just to kill and maim.
"I'm certain kaumatua and other iwi will be as disgusted as we are."
Northland Fishing and Game Council manager Rudi Hoetjes said it was unlikely the protected birds were shot accidentally during a limited open season for paradise shelduck in the area.
"This has been a deliberate act and is no accident," he said.
Department of Conservation staff from Dargaville took several injured birds, including godwits and juvenile oystercatchers, to the Whangarei Bird Recovery Centre.
The oystercatchers have already been released and when strong enough the godwits will be returned to Pouto to join the mass migration to the sub-arctic.