KEY POINTS:
In an ironic twist, the very organisation charged with protecting a native species has ended up being responsible for doing damage to it.
Reports today are saying how a Department of Conservation employee shot dead a takahe after mistaking the highly endangered native bird for a pukeko.
DOC Kapiti area manager Ian Cooksley said the incident on Mana Island north of Wellington was "regrettable" but it was clearly a case of mistaken identity.
The man, armed with a .22 rifle, was positioned 40 metres away picking off a group of pukeko in mid-June, The Dominion Post reported today.
In the poor late-afternoon light he accidentally shot one of the island's 39 takahe, which had similar colourings to the intended targets.
"The man responsible was devastated; saving endangered species was part of his job," Mr Cooksley said.
"The intent to harm wasn't there so we don't need to punish him. He's got enough of that on his own."
Mr Cooksley said that pukeko numbers on Mana Island had swelled from one in 1991 to about 600 and they needed to be culled because they uprooted native saplings and preyed on the chicks of the endangered shore plover and brown teal.
Mr Cooksley said the culling operation would be tightened up, with restrictions on shooting in low light, and possibly using shotguns instead of rifles or only firing at pukeko in flight.
- NZPA
