Suspicious activity in Hawke's Bay raises stock theft concerns

Farmers are reminded to keep stock of their flock, with suspicious activity reported in rural Hawke's Bay. Photo / File

Concerns over stock theft in rural parts of Hawke's Bay has been raised, after suspicious activity was reported at the weekend.

A call to be on the lookout for unusual behaviour was put out to residents in the Rissington area - located between Napier and Puketitiri - at the weekend, after a white Toyota people mover with four people inside appeared up a private driveway.

"Once realising they had been seen they asked if there were any animals for sale [for eating]," residents were told.

Although no law had been broken this raised concerns about poaching, with residents reminded that any similar behaviour needed to be reported, "as it could be an important link if any stock, or other items, go missing in this or other areas".

Local residents told Hawke's Bay Today there had been instances of poaching in the area in the past. It had not been a big issue, but "comes and goes".

Eastern District Police were not aware of any recent reports of stock theft, although a spokesperson said unfortunately this type of incident did happen "from time to time in rural areas".

The maximum penalty for illegal hunting is two years' imprisonment and a $100,000 fine.

Although poaching occurred "to some degree or another" throughout the year, Federated Farmers Hawke's Bay president Will Foley said this served as a timely reminder.

"It's always going on, it just depends what level it is, if farmers consider one or two missing stock as losses they write off or whether its significant numbers that they start doing something about it," he said.

"Meat prices are probably relatively high in the butchers and supermarkets at the moment so it's maybe driving people to make the wrong decisions. Other than that I don't quite know what would be causing any spike in activity."

Poaching raised concerns about animal welfare, and the financial impact with stock prices quite high currently.

He added "it's quite disturbing just to know someone's been on your property. It's no different to someone breaking into your house...you feel violated just that someone's been on your property."

Farmers should record their missing stock, and keep note of what was happening in the area, he said, as well as reporting anything suspicious to the police.

This was echoed by a police spokeswoman, who urged anyone affected by this type of crime, or any crime, to report it to Police as soon as possible.

"Police do not recommend confronting individuals suspected of being involved in illegal hunting and/or stock theft - that should be left to the Police," she said.

"We appreciate any information the community is able to provide us to assist in catching offenders - even a vehicle registration number and description is a good start".

She reminded hunters that they needed to ensure they obtained permission from the land owner or permits from the Department of Conservation (DoC).

This behaviour is not just a threat for private property - last week DoC unveiled a new national compliance strategy, which means poachers, and others acting illegally on public conservation land now have more chance of being caught.

DoC director-general Lou Sanson said they would be undertaking more investigations, with poaching in marine reserves and breaching whitebait regulations remaining the most common offending.