What killed them?
Pheasant speculation
Was it a poaching deal gone wrong? Was it a poisoning? Were the birds sick? Why were they left on the beach?
Questions remain unanswered as to how a large number of dead pheasants ended up on a Napier beach.
Some of the dead were found with bullet pellets, others were not.
Speculation and anger about the birds’ last moments and their peculiar final resting place is rife on social media.
Forty-three pheasants tied by the necks with orange baling twine were discovered by horrified Napier residents on Sunday morning and black plastic rubbish bags were found stuffed near the floodwater tunnels nearby.
While male pheasants (roosters) can be hunted during game season in limited numbers, females are out of bounds under Fish & Game regulations. It is yet to comment on the matter. Hawke’s Bay Bird and Rescue Founder and licensed DoC volunteer Liv Flynn spent hours clearing the beach with the help of the Napier SPCA on Sunday afternoon.
Flynn had been in touch with the few reserves in Hawke’s Bay where pheasants could be hunted but the dumping still remains a mystery.
“One reserve told me they haven’t heard of any birds having been stolen. Any that they raise and release for hunting have bands on their legs.
“The birds discovered on the beach didn’t have any bands on their legs,” Flynn said.
“It does look like an illegal poach and the birds have been dumped, but from where I don’t know.”
Flynn said she had done all she could from a DoC perspective and the matter rested with Fish & Game on whether it wanted to take action and how it would go about it.
“The SPCA can’t do anything due to lack of evidence. So unless someone comes forward and says ‘Hey we’ve had a mass amount of birds stolen’ — then they can lodge a complaint.”
Flynn was hoping to get clues from the CCTV cameras at the Westshore Club where some of the birds were found and was still attempting to access the footage.
“Anything would be helpful at this stage, because some of the bags with feathers inside were left near the cameras, so they might be able to pick something up.”
Some have speculated that the birds may have been poisoned but the question remains as to why the birds were tied up in groups and left on the beach. Flynn remained equally puzzled. “It could have been a protest that someone is trying to make a point.
“There’s been a lot of attention on 1080 lately, especially when it comes to birds.
“They could have been sick, but if that was the case, then someone would have reported it.”