Lizard poaching: Judge orders secrecy to protect geckos and skinks at centre of Hanmer Springs Environment Court case

There is high demand for New Zealand lizards on the international market. Photo / NZME file photo

A court has imposed stringent secrecy provisions so lizard poachers can’t learn the whereabouts of several native geckos and skinks that are living in an area that might become a $2.2m tourist attraction.

The forest-loving reptiles are at the centre of an Environment Court hearing around a proposed thrill-seekers’ tourist attraction at Hanmer Springs.

The Hurunui District Council has granted a resource consent to the Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools and Spa company, which it owns, to build a large flying-fox type attraction on the resort’s Conical Hill.

The council says that the fastest riders will descend the 500-metre track in about 70 seconds, with changes of direction at each of seven supporting poles along the route. The attraction will carry 50 to 60 people an hour.

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Friends of Conical Hill opposed the consent in the Environment Court on grounds including the presence of rare, endangered and at-risk herpetofauna, or lizards, in the area.

They are also concerned about native falcons on Conical Hill, and other factors including a loss of heritage value and peace and privacy for nearby residents.

Each of the parties in the case – the Friends, the council and the pools operator – has filed expert evidence about four species of native lizards in the area.

They are the rough gecko, the northern Southern Alps gecko, the pygmy gecko and the South Marlborough grass skink.

The rough gecko is endangered and the other three are classified as “at risk – declining”.

Judge Jane Borthwick said although the Conical Hill Reserve was a known lizard habitat, other locations mentioned in the evidence “are not in the public domain or widely known”.

The council had told her there was a risk of people finding out the lizards’ locations and poaching them.

Also, a private landowner in the area “does not want their property to be a target for those with criminal intent”.

Rare and exotic reptiles are in high demand from collectors, who keep the long-lived lizards as pets, and a New Zealand species can fetch thousands of dollars on the international market.

In 2012, a German poacher was jailed for four months for trying to smuggle four geckos out of the country.

Judge Borthwickaccepted that the need to protect the location of significant habitats for threatened and at-risk species outweighed the need for an open hearing.

She ruled that parts of the court hearings would be closed to the public, and that the evidence about the lizards would be accessible only to the court and the parties.

The court transcript would be marked “confidential” and the court file could not be searched, inspected or copied without the court’s permission, she ruled.

“The protection of areas of significant habitats of indigenous fauna is a matter of national importance that needs to be recognised and provided for,” Judge Borthwick said.