Man fined for taking geckos from island

Photo / The Aucklander

Taking protected common geckos from Arapawa Island in the Marlborough Sounds and bringing them home for his partner's daughter to keep as pets has cost a Christchurch man nearly $2000.

Twenty-eight-year-old Ricki Lee Pascoe was doing logging work on the island in January and February when he caught the seven geckos. Four were pregnant females that then gave birth while in captivity.

He later told Department of Conservation (DOC) officers that he believed he was saving the animals from roading work on the island and he did not know they were fully protected.

Pascoe now works as a tree feller in the city.

When he heard the department was investigating him he got relatives to release the 11 geckos near Bottle Lake Forest on the city's outskirts. Experts say they were unlikely to survive because of the different conditions, the climate, the heightened risk of disease, and the danger from predators.

Pascoe showed officers where they had been released but they could not be found. He also gave the officers a bag containing the skins the geckos had shed, which enabled their species to be identified.

He pleaded guilty in Christchurch District Court today to charges of hunting and liberating the animals, and defence counsel Nicola Pointer said he had no history of this type of offending.

He had not had any commercial motive for taking the animals and had believed he was saving them from the road works that were going on. He had offered to carry out any voluntary work for the department to make amends.

Department prosecutor Rachel Ennor, from Nelson, said New Zealand geckos were internationally significant. They were not considered to be at risk of extinction but populations were declining in many places.

Judge Erber said New Zealand's environment and wildlife were the country's drawcards and needed protection. He warned that if Pascoe had taken the animals for profit he would have faced imprisonment.

He reduced the penalty because of Pascoe's immediate guilty pleas.

Pascoe was fined $1000 and ordered to pay DOC reparation of $849, which was the cost of the officers' air fares and accommodation.

- NZPA