Westport man admits illegally keeping geckos

A jewelled gecko. Photo / Supplied.

A Westport man has pleaded guilty to breaching the Wildlife Act after he caught geckos in the wild and kept them in a terrarium.

Joshua Clement Duncan appeared in Westport District Court last week. He also faced charges of dealing methamphetamine (P) and knowingly receiving stolen goods, to which he pleaded guilty.

The Department of Conservation's (DOC) legal representative, Victoria Tumai told the court that since mid-November last year DOC had been aware that Duncan had been posting pictures of captive New Zealand forest geckos on his Facebook page. Comments on the photos included discussions around the sale of the geckos.

On December 11, DOC executed a search warrant at Duncan's place of residence. It located one gecko in a terrarium, she said.

Duncan admitted to catching the lizard, and to catching two other geckos over a two-year period but denied any intentions of selling them, she said. He told DOC he put the Facebook comments up as a joke.

DOC sought reparation for the cost incurred during the investigation, which amounted to $4259.96.

The geckos Duncan had taken were a protected species whose numbers were in decline.

Following the DOC search, police executed a search warrant at Duncan's home. They found P, a number of unused point bags and a set of scales. They also found stolen goods, including a gold watch, card reader and GPS navigation system.

Police believed that the profits of the P sales were being returned to Duncan's dealer and Duncan himself was paid in P.

Judge Noel Walsh convicted Duncan of breaching the Wildlife Act, dealing P and receiving stolen property. He remanded Duncan on bail for Crown on all the charges.

Duncan will be sentenced in Greymouth District Court in July.