OMG!!!! Perhaps we are heading the way of Africa where conservation staff have to be armed with rifles to fight PEOPLE (poachers). I'm very concerned that people that can slaughter gulls and club seal pups exist in our community. About 30 seal murders in Kaikoura now 100+ murders of RARE Black-billed Gull. Maybe in the future i'll be patrolling rivers with a rifle in the name of Conservation. We did need to wake
STORY FROM STUFF.CO>NZ
More than 100 of the rarest gulls in the world were massacred as they nested near Wreys Bush in Southland.
Department of Conservation Murihiku biodiversity ranger Ros Cole said more than 100 adult black-billed gulls were found dead beside the Aparima River at Wreys Bush on November 24.
Most of the birds died from bullet wounds, but others had broken bones and some chicks were found starving to death beside their dead parents, she said.
Shotgun cartridges were found beside some nests and an autopsy confirmed shotgun pellets were the most likely cause of death, Ms Cole said. "They have gone into the colony and gone mad. It's pretty sad that people want to shoot these birds and leave the chicks to starve," she said.
DOC Murihiku compliance and law enforcement ranger Kelwyn Osborn said the shooting was the third involving the endangered native gull in two months.
The department was also investigating the massacre of between 20 and 25 black-billed gulls shot while nesting at a tributary of the Upper Mataura River, near Fairlight, in October, he said.
A fisherman also reported a dead black-billed gull floating down the river about 2km from Wreys Bush after he heard gunshots, Mr Osborn said.
"It's just disturbing. We have adult birds being killed and chicks being left on the nest and have no-one to look after them," he said.
No-one had been caught so DOC was seeking any information from the public, he said.
Ms Cole said people often thought of the black-billed gull as a "regular old sea gull", but it was unique to New Zealand and was not the "scavenge your fish-and-chips-and-rubbish type".
THE NUMBERS
There are between 1000 and 1500 gulls in the Wreys Bush colony Black-billed gulls are native to New Zealand and the population is estimated to be 90,000 adults – many of those beside Southland rivers.
The population is expected to decline by 50 to 70 per cent in Southland in the next 10 years because of predators, riverbed movement and weeds.
The maximum penalty for injuring, harassing or disturbing black-billed gulls is $100,000 plus $5000 per head of wildlife, or six months' jail.
LINK TO SEAL SLAUGHTER DOUBTED
DOC spokesperson Jessyca Bernard said she doubted there was a link to the slaughter of 23 seals and pups near Kaikoura earlier this month.
"Other than that these people have gone out and committed wanton acts of destruction, I doubt there's a link," Bernard said.
"But your guess is as good as mine."
Bernard said she was worried by the fact that the two events had occurred in such a short timeframe.
"It's also difficult to judge how much this kind of thing goes on without our knowledge."
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