Duck hunter digs way into trouble Loo-king out from inside
A keen duck shooter dodged prosecution from the Waikato Regional Council after he took to an area of protected Waikato wetland with the 20-tonne excavator.
He received two warnings instead.
‘‘The first warning was for the initial work where the digger got stuck. The second warning was the removal of the digger where we were meant to work together and plan, to cause as little damage as possible,’’ council investigations manager Patrick Lynch said.
‘‘But he went and removed it on his own on another date, hence the second breach.’’
In February, the man borrowed the excavator to cut a pond next to his Waitakaruru maimai in the southern Firth of Thames. The area is categorised as a Ramsar site – a wetland of international importance, protected under the Ramsar Convention.
Officers found the machine almost fully submerged in a large hole with part of the cab and boom
formal visible above the water.
The excavator operator claimed he was removing leftover building materials from his maimai, but further investigations found he was preparing the pond for the start of the duck-shooting season in May.
Matters were made worse for the wetland environment when he called in heavy machines to recover the stuck excavator.
The enforcement decision group, a panel of senior council staff members, decided not to prosecute, saying the individual circumstances did not meet the high threshold required for a prosecution to be taken.
‘‘Obviously we cannot, nor should we, prosecute every breach identified. Certainly this matter was sufficiently serious to warrant a formal investigation.
‘‘We have a number of factors that we consider and thorough information was gathered in respect of each of these factors.’’
Lynch said the council was keen to share this story with the community and wanted to flag that the council would be unlikely to issue formal warnings for this kind of activity in future.
‘‘People simply cannot go in there with 20-tonne diggers destroying habitats,’’ Lynch said.
‘‘You cannot go into these protected areas, in particular, internationally recognised wetlands, and start doing work.’’ A ‘‘loo with a view’’ has been touted as a way to get tourists to stop in one Central Plateau town.
The quirky idea to turn the Taumarunui toilets into a tourist attraction has been pitched by passionate resident Don Buchanan.
And the beef farmer wants others to follow his lead and become involved in the upgrade of the town’s centre.
Council representatives were left smiling when he presented the ‘‘Loo with a View’’ concept at the Taumarunui, Ohura Ward Committee meeting recently.
Using one-way glass, Buchanan reckons the gimmicky idea is a winner.
‘‘The person in the toilet can look out while they’re doing what they might be doing in the toilet and the public going past can’t see.
‘‘You have to think of the funny side and make it interesting.’’
Buchanan’s logic rests on the fact that if children like the toilets, parents will stop and spend money.
‘‘We want people to come to Taumarunui.
‘‘If you’re going to build new toilets let’s make them the best toilets in New Zealand. Sell them as a talking point.’’
Using farming logic to calculate the risks, Buchanan’s concept is simple.
‘‘If you put an ordinary ewe with a ram you’re going to get something ordinary.
‘‘If you put an outstanding ram with an ordinary ewe, you’re going to get something better than the average.’’
Ruapehu District councillor Karen Ngatai said she hadn’t thought about the ‘‘Loo with a View’’ concept but supported the idea.
Buchanan said it’s time to take a gamble like other councils around the country have done.
A list of New Zealand’s best toilets featured in The Lonely Planet’s new book, Toilets: A Spotter’s Guide.
Wellington spent $375,000 on architect Bret Thurston’s bogglyeyed design for the public lavatories on the city’s windswept waterfront.
Locals in Matakana waited seven years and spent $400,000 to come face-to-face with their pouting public toilets, which provoked plaudits and protestation.
‘‘If you spend that bit extra you will get that return. That’s what I’ve built my farming principles on.’’
ELTON RIKIHANA SMALLMAN AND TE AHUA MAITLAND