Coast council to impose new bylaw — rock thieves a target
From local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
West Coast Regional Council staff will have renewed clout in dealing with anyone who removes rock from floodwalls.
This follows an incident late last year where council compliance staff caught a person red-handed removing a serpentine boulder from a protection wall at the mouth of Serpentine Creek, near the Coast to Coast start line.
Serpentine along with pounamu is a toanga of Ngai Tahu and is legally owned by the iwi.
The man, equipped with a trailer fitted with a winch, ignored an order by the council and removed rock anyway after compliance staff left.
A report to the Risk and Assurance Committee this week noted the council previously had a bylaw to protect its floodwalls, implemented in 2015, but it had lapsed last April. A renewed bylaw was timely given the proposed new floodwalls.
Committee chairman Frank Dooley said compliance staff needed adequate support to exercise their authority.
"We need to make sure that whatever we have in place gives them the ammunition for them to do their job thoroughly.
"We need to support them, when we find someone taking a rock out of our stopbank," Dooley said.
Acting operations manager Colin Munn said a renewed bylaw would offer staff protection and send "a clear message".
"In my experience, I have not had a lot of occasions if you need to pull a bylaw out and prosecute, but they are useful."
Dooley referred to "a threatening e-mail" he had since received from the alleged Serpentine offender, who had asked for his "physical dimensions".
Acting consents and compliance manager Rachel Clark said the alleged rock thief had since been identified.
"The rock that was taken from the Serpentine rock protection has been found, the alleged offender has been identified and questioned over the taking of the rock. The alleged offender is currently in custody for other alleged crimes."
Clark said apparently the piece of rock was mistakenly identified by the alleged offender as Pounamu.
It was too heavy for one person to carry, hence the trailer with winch to pick up the rock.
But on recovery by council it had been properly identified as a piece of Serpentine.
"It wasn't good quality stuff."
Its understood the alleged offender was visiting from Dunedin.
* Public interest journalism funded through NZ On Air
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A reminder this hunting season
As thousands of hunters are making their plans for autumn – the Roar – recreational firearms groups are urging hunters to always be 100% sure of their targets.
Te Tari Pureke - Firearms Safety Authority NZ, which chairs the Recreational Firearms Users Group, has begun a public information campaign reminding hunters everywhere of Rule #4 of the Firearms Safety Code: to identify their target beyond all doubt.
Director Communities and Corporate, Mike McIlraith, says there is an estimated 50,000-60,000 New Zealanders involved in big game animal hunting each year, and the Roar is the key event for many hunters each year.
“The Roar is a fantastic time of year for hunters to get out into the hills after a trophy animal but hunting safely and making sure everyone gets home in one piece, still must be the most important goal of every trip,” says Mike McIlraith.
“The consequences of not fully identifying your target beyond all doubt can be catastrophic. Our message to hunters is a really simple one: If you are not sure, then don’t shoot.”
Mike McIlraith says while hunting fatalities are thankfully rare, research has shown that misidentification of the target is the largest firearms related risk to New Zealand deer hunters, and 80% of the time this involves members of the same hunting group.
The Authority says hunters should not feel pressured to take a shot: “Instead, hunters should take the time to analyse their target, wait and see if it is a hind or stag, how old is the animal, how many points does its antlers have? Identifying your target means never firing at sound, shape, colour or movement alone.”
Mike McIlraith says good hunters will slow down, and run through some simple mental checks:
- Can I see the whole animal, or could this be another hunter?
- Where are my hunting companions – could this be them or someone else?
- How much of the animal can you see, if it is a hind or stag, how old is the animal, how - many points does its antlers have?
“Taking a little extra time to identify your target and check the firing zone is the key to safer hunting. No meat or no trophy is better than no mate,” he says.
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