(PR.co.nz) Gamebird hunting, particularly hunting water fowl, is one of the great social recreational sports, and with the season fast approaching, the Department of Conservation (DOC) would like to remind shooters to familiarise themselves with pateke to avoid the endangered species being shot.
Pateke or brown teal are very similar to mallard ducks with a few exceptions. Pateke are a darker brown and much smaller then mallard. In flight their wings move faster and they fly lower and slower than mallard.
‘There are only around 2000 of these special ducks left in the world, so we need to do everything we can to protect them,’ says DOC ranger Rebekah Caldwell.
Pateke, on the Coromandel Peninsula, are found around Port Charles, Port Jackson, Colville Bay and Waikawau Bay. Shooters can help by identifying their target before firing.
Fines for hunting, killing, selling or buying protected wildlife can be up to $100,000 and six months imprisonment.
Media Release 23 April 2010 from Rebekah Caldwell, Community Relations Ranger, Department of Conservation.
Telephone (07) 8679075
Email rcaldwell@doc.govt.nz