Dumping duck carcasses appalls resident
A KAITANGATA resident awoke to an unwelcome surprise on Saturday.
Semiretired farmer Allan Cross went to fetch the Otago Daily Times from his letterbox about 7.30am only to find about 30 duck carcasses ‘‘in a heap’’ at the foot of his driveway.
Initially, he thought they might be unwanted surplus meat, but a rank odour revealed the truth of the matter, Mr Cross said.
‘‘To begin with I couldn’t make out what this heap was. When you don’t expect something, it doesn’t quite register.
‘‘Once I’d got a bit closer, I could see they were ducks. Then the smell hit me.’’
He said a closer inspection revealed most of the carcasses were flyblown.
He returned indoors and contacted the police and Fish & Game.
‘‘I wasn’t sure if there might have been a crime committed in terms of bag size or illegal disposal, so I contacted both.
‘‘I had a call back from police, who took my details and just advised me to dispose of them in the bin.’’
Fish & Game were yet to respond, he said.
‘‘It’s a bit disgusting, to be honest. As far as I know we get on with everybody all right, but something like this makes you wonder.
‘‘Whoever did it should be ashamed of themselves. Not least for wasting the ducks.’’
As neither he nor his wife had heard anything on Friday night, they might now consider installing wireless CCTV, he said.
The couple moved to Kaitangata in 2016, but had never experienced anything similar before.
‘‘I still feel good about Kai. The majority of people are good folk, and this won’t change my mind.’’
A Balclutha police spokesman confirmed Mr Cross reported the incident, which remained under investigation.
Police would like to hear from anyone with information regarding the incident, or who might have CCTV footage covering anything related to the carcass dumping.
Police 105, Crimestoppers 0800 555111.