A harrier hawk whose wings had been deliberately clipped was obviously abandoned when its "owners" got tired of it, a bird rescue volunteer says.
Hilary Stollery, of SPCA Birdwing, said it was the first time in her 18 years with the organisation that she had seen one ofthe big birds of prey with clipped wings and the find had appalled bird rescue staff.
"There is only one place for these magnificent birds and that's up high in the sky, not left to spend its life on the ground with mutilated wings."
She guessed someone had the hawk as a chick, then "chucked her back into the wild" when the bird became too aggressive.
Mrs Stollery said the birds were naturally aggressive and could not be tamed.
The young female was thought to be about a year old and was brought in by a Maramarua farming couple who initially thought it had been injured.
The hawk's wings would eventually re-grow and the bird would be released, but only after a re-training programme.
It was being fed by stealth at night so it would not associate food with humans. Its meals were now carrion and small animals such as rabbits instead of what it had been used to - mince. "It has to be done or she'll never last when she's released," Mrs Stollery said.
Australasian harrier hawks are a protected native under the Wildlife Act. They are members of the raptor family which also includes the rare New Zealand falcon and the morepork.
It is illegal to kill or confine them, but people who found young injured harriers often thought they could be raised as pets, Mrs Stollery said.
Department of Conservation spokesman Keith Owen said anyone trying to confine a harrier could be prosecuted.
