Woman fined $400 for taking car and dog into endangered bird nesting site

Wednesday, 8 December 2021

Watch Department of Conservation staff return critically endangered fairy tern eggs to their nest after a storm in Mangawhai during the 2020 breeding season.

A woman who drove her vehicle into the nesting site of one of New Zealand’s rarest birds has been fined $400.

The woman and her dog stayed overnight at the Mangawhai wildlife refuge in Northland on October 31, after her vehicle got stuck in the sand.

She had breached Auckland’s Covid-19 alert level 3 border restriction to enter the site, Department of Conservation (DOC) Whangārei operations manager Craig Deal said previously.

The woman was rescued and escorted from the reserve by DOC staff, who reported the matter to police.

Fairy terns, or tara iti, have been on the brink of extinction since the 1980s.

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The endemic birds are helped by Department of Conservation staff to ensure their survival. (Photo taken during the 2020 breeding season)

The site is one of four tara iti (fairy tern) nesting sites located just north of Auckland, and it is protected by Northland Reserves Bylaws.

The woman has since been dealt two $200 infringement notices for taking a vehicle and a dog into a wildlife refuge, a DOC spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

With a population of fewer than 40 birds, tara iti have been near extinction since the 1980s and require a lot of human help to ensure their survival.

They were once widespread but now only breed at four nesting sites in Papakānui, Pākiri Beach and sandspits in Waipū and Mangawhai, all in the north Auckland and lower Northland area.

The first fairy tern egg of this year’s breeding season was laid at Papakānui around the same time as the incident.

Nesting sites on shell and sand banks leave them at risk of stormy weather and high tides. They are also vulnerable to human disturbance.

“It’s concerning to see such a blatant breach of wildlife refuge and Covid-19 border rules, especially with the tara iti breeding season just starting,” Deal said in November.

Seven dedicated DOC rangers and multiple community groups and volunteers have been trapping for predators, fencing off nesting sites and preventing human disturbance since September.

They will continue to monitor the birds and their nests during the breeding season.

Police previously said they received a report of the incident after the fact.

Follow-up inquiries found the woman had returned to Auckland, and no further action was taken by police.