Eels suffer ‘needless’ deaths
A group of men have been reprimanded after spearing threatened eels and leaving them for dead near Nelson.
Erin Fetz called the SPCA on Saturday, after her husband discovered three longfin eels wounded and one killed in a creek by their home in Murchison.
‘‘They were writhing around and couldn’t get into their burrows,’’ said Fetz, who had for many years nurtured the animals in the tributary of Ned’s Creek.
An SPCA inspector visited the site on Sunday, and found an eel floating with puncture wounds around its upper body and head. It was still alive and had to be put down, the society said.
The dead eel had similar injuries, and the other wounded animals had ‘‘crawled away into their holes’’, Fetz said.
The eels were injured by a group of road workers living next door to Fetz, in their early to mid 20s, during a party on Friday night, the SPCA and Fetz said.
The men had speared the fish with a sharp stake with the intention of eating them, and appeared ‘‘genuinely remorseful’’, the inspector said.
The SPCA wouldn’t be taking any further action, as it was not judged a malicious act, and because the men had been rebuked by the company believed to have employed them, Fulton Hogan.
A representative from Fulton Hogan had arrived in Murchison on the weekend to speak to the men, Fetz said.
In a written statement on Wednesday, Fulton Hogan would only say it did not condone the actions taken by the four individuals in their own time.
Such cases were rarely reported in the area, the SPCA said.
Eels are a threatened but not a protected species, according to the Tasman District Council.
Up to six eels could be caught per person per day, spokesman Chris Choat said.
‘‘They’re allowed to catch them, but they’re not allowed to be cruel to them. They’re not allowed to half kill them and put them back,’’ Fetz said.
The neighbour who hosted the party was ‘‘so apologetic’’, but people killing eels to eat, had to do it humanely and for that purpose, she said.
‘‘If they’re going to take an animal, it’s got to be taken cleanly and not just wasted.
‘‘They’ve got to think about what they’re doing, they [eels] are an endangered species they’re on the decline. Have respect.’’
The longfin eel is one of the largest eels in the world and it is found only in the rivers and lakes of New Zealand.
‘‘They’re jewels in New Zealand’s crown, they’re special,’’ Fetz said.