Ducks sacrificed for golf tournament

Sociable Daphne would greet visitors to Tiritiri Matangi.

A bird cull to prepare for the country's top golf tournament at the Gulf Harbour Country Club has backfired after a duck known to hundreds of schoolchildren was killed.

Conservationists and the woman who hand-reared the bird are threatening to picket the $1.5 million New Zealand Open after the paradise duck died during the shoot on Whangaparaoa Peninsula north of Auckland.

The duck was known for greeting visitors at the wharf of the Tiritiri Matangi wildlife sanctuary in the Hauraki Gulf.

"She was a dear little bird and she's been sacrificed by the country club because they've got this huge tournament," said Jude Smidt-Cox, who hand-reared "Daphne" at her Whangaparaoa home.

The cull comes ahead of the NZ Open starting on Thursday next week, which has attracted a star field including former champions Michael Campbell and David Smail.

Gulf Harbour director Peter Wall refused to comment on the cull and protest threat.

The bird flew five km with its mate to Gulf Harbour from the island around this time each year for a "communal moult" typical of the species.

Mrs Smidt-Cox believed the club wanted to cull birds on its man-made lake so they would not "mess" on the course or distract players.

Gulf Harbour had carried out bird culls before but had an agreement to give advance warning so the pair could be removed.

Both wore yellow identification bands meaning they should not be shot.

The moult would have been over by the time the tournament started, Mrs Smidt-Cox said, but instead she believed between 20 and 30 birds of various species had been killed.

She was notified of the cull but by the time she arrived Daphne was fatally wounded.

Simon Fordham, chairman of the Supporters of Tiritiri Matangi, said he was incredulous that the reason given for the cull was to tidy up the golf course. If the club did not want waterfowl, it should remove the lake, he said.

Paradise ducks, more properly known as paradise shelducks, are native to New Zealand. A permit is required to shoot them outside the duck hunting season.

The golf club had a permit but Mr Fordham said it was unclear whether all conditions had been met.