DUMPED dead pheasants are upsetting nearby residents who have been taking a stroll on the new Ohiwa Harbour walkway.
One of these residents, Toni O’Sullivan, said she encountered the dead pheasants while out walking her dogs this week on the Ohope Harbourside trail.
“I was walking the dogs on the edge of the harbour and [the birds] were on the waterline, they were tied together,” said Ms O’Sullivan.
“It was a female and male, and then a female and a male, there were about three sets of them. I think there was about 10.”
She said the birds appeared to have been snared and tied together. “It is all quite odd.”
Ohope Top 10 Holiday Park manager Mark Inman said one of his employees showed him photos of the dead pheasants.
“They have been tying them up by their feet in groups of four to five and discarding them on the edge of the trail.
“This is most upsetting to see our wildlife being taken away in a such an inhumane manner,” said Mr Inman.
“As a local resident of Ohope who enjoys the beautiful walks and knows that many visitors to Ohope also enjoy our wide array of birdlife, this is most upsetting.
“The perpetrator must be stopped.”
Mawera Karetai, owner-operator of Feathergirl, a business that sends feathers all over the world, said she knew exactly where the birds came from, and was disgusted by the dumping.
“Those birds have come from a driven shoot. They have brought them home and rather than process them they have just dumped them, and that sickens me,” she said.
Ms Karetai said driven shoots were held on private property and shooters often paid a lot of money to shoot the birds, which were bred for the purpose.
“So, whoever [dumped them], I am disgusted by it, it is shameful.
“Usually they would bring them home and may give the feathers away to someone, for weaving, or for fly tying, and then use the rest for meat because pheasant meat is absolutely beautiful.”
Ms Karetai said at a time when many families were struggling it was not okay to dump what could have been used as food.
“If you think what is happening with so many of our families in our community at the moment; people with job insecurity, which creates food insecurity, and that is a lot of meat to feed families.”
Fish & Game Eastern region manager John Garrick said they had a report yesterday of pheasants trapped in cages in Ohiwa Harbour and needed to understand what had actually happened at Ohiwa.
However, he said the fact the birds were trussed together in pairs, with a cock and a hen, indicated they had come from an organised shoot.
He said if the birds were shot then that was “abhorrent, irresponsible and thoughtless behaviour, unethical and totally contrary to game bird hunting codes of conduct and is met with similar disdain by far the majority of game bird hunters”.
“Dumping of birds reflects badly on them and generates a very negative perception among non- hunters and other members of the public of game bird hunting and the type of people who indulge in it.
“People who behave like this don’t qualify to be called hunters.”
Mr Garrick believes the birds fall under Schedule 3 of the Wildlife Act – “wildlife that may be hunted or killed subject to the minister’s notification”, which was enacted last year.
“We have several of these areas in the Bay of Plenty and wider area … Pheasants everywhere else beyond the boundaries of the Schedule 3 commercial operations remain in Schedule 1, however, and therefore under our jurisdiction.”