Charges possible after kiwi chick found in freezer

BY ROSALEEN MACBRAYNE

A kiwi carcass found by conservation officers in a freezer at a Wairoa property is being examined to determine how the bird died.

The Department of Conservation says charges may be laid, depending on autopsy results.

Last week a man told a local newspaper he had found a dead kiwi chick while he was walking in a 1080 drop zone near Wairoa. The poison is used on conservation land to kill possums.

East Coast-Hawkes Bay conservancy spokesman Brett Butland said DoC became concerned the chick might have been affected by 1080, "although that has never happened to kiwi or blue duck to our knowledge before". When interviewed, the man who said he had found the bird claimed to have buried it.

Later, with police assistance, conservation officers executed a search warrant on the property near Wairoa and found the chick in the deep freeze.

It is an offence under the Wildlife Act for anyone to possess any absolutely protected animal.