This post is syndicated from Chthonic Wildlife Ramblings – Original Post
As I have been thinking of wekas Galliralus australis of late, here’s a couple of photos of this threatened NZ rail:
NZ Weka Photo #1
Link to larger image
NZ Weka Photo #2
Link to larger image
This native rail to be fairly wide-spread, and growing up on the East Coast, it was pretty common. The species however has undergone some fairly major population contractions.
sorry…’let’ them go into the bush
Hi, the Crown ‘owns’ all weka in NZ. DoC is the Crown’s agent and hence, make up all the rules.
As it stands you could (a) not currently buy weka – albeit if you lived on the Chatham Islands you could shoot some (b) could not breed weka unless you had a permit from DoC (fwiw, inter-species breeding would be doomed to failure) and then (c) not dispose of them in anyway (transfer, sell, release, BBQ them) without a permit from DoC.
Hope this helps :)
The views expressed on this blog are those of the author and do not reflect the views of the owners of SciBlogs.co.nz, the Science Media Centre or the Royal Society of New Zealand
Sciblogs is the biggest blog network of scientists in New Zealand, an online forum for discussion of everything from clinical health to climate change. Our Scibloggers are either practising scientists or have been writing on science-related issues for some time. They welcome your feedback!
Sciblogs was created by the Science Media Centre.
Am I allowed to buy weka, breed them in with the chickens and then the youngsters go into the bush?