An inquiry is under way into how a cull of somewhat similar-looking pukeko birds has led to the slaughter of 5% of the wild population of takahēThe head of New Zealand’s national deerstalkers’ organization has apologised “to the country at large” after four critically endangered takahē were mistakenly shot by hunters carrying out a cull of a somewhat similar-looking bird.
Deerstalkers were contracted by the Department of Conservation to carry out a cull of pukeko,a non-endangered, very common relative of the takahē, or on an island sanctuary in Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf.
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Source: theguardian.com