Willowbank Wildlife Reserve eels killed by idiots

Chlidonias · 5 Dec 2012

there are some really mentally-deficient people out there in this world
Eel killers caught on Facebook - Yahoo! New Zealand News

24 November 2012

Two Christchurch men have been reported to police after posting a photo of themselves on Facebook, with two dead endangered eels in front of Willowbank Wildlife Reserve.

Reserve Visitor Manager Dale Hedgcock says the men had portrayed themselves as hunters of the highest order...when in fact they'd stood over tame creatures in a sanctuary, and mindlessly slaughtered them.

He says staff were suspicious at the falling number of eels, and also found another two dead with gashes on their heads.

"We've handed it over to the police.

"They were on our property, senselessly killing a native iconic species; an endangered species."
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Eels 'mindlessly slaughtered' in wildlife reserve - National - NZ Herald News

28 November 2012

Police are in no hurry to interview two men who have caused an online uproar by posing with eels "mindlessly slaughtered" at Willowbank Wildlife Reserve in Christchurch.

Dozens of angry messages have been posted online since the photo of the men holding the long finned eels, which were aged between 60-70, was posted on Facebook last week.

They had been at Willowbank in Harewood for about 30 years. Long finned eels are a threatened species.

Willowbank director Kathy Rangiwananga said the eels, which were tame and hand fed, had been "mindlessly slaughtered".

The culprits for the killing of the eels would have had to climb over a nearly 2m fence to get to the eel enclosure.

The photo of the two men was taken inside the Willowbank complex, and shows the two men holding the dead eels on the end of spears.

Ms Rangiwananga found the names of the two also on Facebook and released them with the photo publicly, and also provided the information to the police.

Two other eels were killed about two weeks ago and the wildlife had been investigating installing surveillance cameras.

Senior Constable Geoff Houston told The Star yesterday he had traced one of the men, but would not interview him until next week.

"This is not a high priority at the moment," he said.

But he said the killing of the eels was "hideous" and an act of "madness".

Senior Constable Houston said he was disappointed Willowbank had publicly released the photo of the young men, and also their names, before police had a chance to interview them.

Ms Rangiwananga defended publicly releasing the photo and names of the two men she believes are holding the spears.

''They (two men) were the ones who named themselves on Facebook. We released this information to the public because we hoped that it would discourage other like-minded individuals from undertaking similar actions," she said.

"It is not acceptable to go eeling inside a wildlife reserve. I didn't think people could be so heartless. It was foolish what they did. We don't know if these two are responsible for the rest of the eels going missing, they could have come into the park every night for the last week. We don't know," she said.

Ms Rangiwananga said while an apology won't bring back the eels, it would be nice.

"I do not want these two let off lightly. They need to be dealt with by the court. An apology would be nice. This is a big deal for us," she said.
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Police consider charges over eel deaths | Otago Daily Times Online News : Otago, South Island, New Zealand & International News

5 December 2012

Police are seeking legal advice on appropriate charges for two men who slaughtered tame eels from the Willowbank Wildlife Reserve.

The pair caused an online uproar when they posted photographs of themselves on Facebook smiling with two eels dangling from their spears.

A threatened species, the long finned eels were aged between 60 and 70 years and had lived at the Harewood sanctuary for about 30 years.

Willowbank found the names of the two men on Facebook and publicly released them with the photo, then provided the information to police.

Senior Sergeant Pete Stills, of the Papanui police, said both men approached police after the photo appeared in news media.

"We've spoken to the alleged offenders and we're seeking further legal advice on any appropriate charges," he told The Star yesterday.

Police were treating the incident seriously.

Willowbank operations manager Dale Hedgecock said the Facebook photo showed the pair on reserve property and he wanted police to prosecute them if possible.

"It's not as cut and dried as trespassing," Mr Hedgecock said.

"It's pretty much down to what the police want to do, so we're leaving it in their capable hands."

Willowbank was grateful to the "huge amount of interest and support" received in the wake of the publicity.

Some eels were starting to return to the reserve.

"They're tame - they're not fair game," Mr Hedgecock said.

He said the reserve was proceeding with plans to install surveillance cameras to deter any further intrusions.
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snowleopard · 6 Dec 2012

This sort of thing seems to be happening once a month somewhere in either Australia or New Zealand. Yikes! What's going on down under?

DavidBrown · 6 Dec 2012

I guess at least a-holes that are so vicious and stupid as to torture animals are also stupid enough to broadcast it to the planet and incriminate themselves.

The initial response of the police was very unimpressive. It looks like public pressure got them off their butts finally.

kiwipo · 6 Dec 2012

I remember a similar thing happened there or at the other place years ago, several Maori claiming customary fishing rights walked in and gaffed a nummber of huge old eels. Nothing was ever done about that though, the police said it was out of their hands as eel fishing wasn't against the law and technically the eels weren't owned.
Be interesting to see if they come up with anything this time.

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Willowbank Wildlife Reserve eels killed by idiots

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