KEY POINTS:
The jailing of two Northland men for killing the protected kukupa (wood pigeons) has been welcomed by the Department of Conservation.
Michael Stanley Sampson, 36, and Murray William Ogle, 33, were handed six week prison sentences after pleading guilty in Kaikohe District Court last week to hunting, killing and possessing kukupa last year.
DOC, which brought the prosecution, has welcomed the sentence, saying it sent a strong signal to those who hunted the endangered bird.
DOC rangers found Sampson and Ogle on horseback with firearms and two dead, warm kukupa in their possession, the Northern Advocate reported.
The offending was essentially "selfish" and not motivated by any recognised cultural need, such as taking a bird to a dying kuia, Crown solicitor Mike Smith said.
He said that, while DOC offered a process for accessing kukupa feathers for cultural use, Sampson and Ogle had plucked the birds and discarded the feathers in the forest.
Mr Smith stressed the need for a deterrent sentence, particularly for Sampson who had been convicted for a similar offence in 2000.
- NZPA
