Illegally Keeping Native & Endemic Birds Captive

[Ian McLean]

Kia ora
An interesting story in the attached link about endemic birds being seized by the Department of Conservation from Shaw's Bird Park near Hamilton.
The owners of the park had no permit to keep native & endemic birds. This article is a good reminder that you cannot keep native & endemic birds as caged pets or rehabilitate them unless you are licensed to do so. A total of 5 ruru & 3 tui were seized.
Unfortunately, the story also displays poor reporting & knowledge or our birds. They mention that 3 karuru/black robins were also seized, which is something absolutely incredible considering they are only found on the Chatham Islands ! Perhaps they of course meant toutouwai/North Island robin ? Even then keeping robins in captivity seems well out of order.
Cheers
Ian McLean
https://www.waikatotimes.co.nz/a/nz-new ... -bird-park

[SomesBirder]

They were actually Kererū; not any kind of robin.

[Ian McLean]

Thanks SomesBirder for clearing that up & kereru/NZ pigeon was a far more likely species to be in captivity. The reporter looks to have mis-spelt the names in Te Reo & got the wrong species.