July 06, 2015
Kukupa revival doesn’t mean kai time
Te Taitokerau MP Kelvin Davis says native pigeon numbers in parts of the north may be increasing, but that’s no excuse for hunting them.
Mr Davis says while visiting Waipoua Forest on the weekend to hear about conservation efforts, he says flocks of kukupa flying between the forest and the coast.
A survey done last week spotted about 600 of the birds, a big increase on a similar survey four years ago.
"If we do the right things we can create the conditions where our kukupa can regenerate but it’s a long hard road and we certainly can’t go out there shooting them thinking because there is a few more than there were four years ago, we can start culling them for a kai," he says.
Kelvin Davis has called on Ngapuhi Runanga chair Sonny Tau to resign and seek a new mandate over his alleged hunting expedition to the South Island.
Mr Tau will appear in the Invercargill District Court on July 24 to face two charges relating to the killing and possession kereru or kukupa.
While he has been stood down as chair of Ngapuhi’s treaty claim negotiation body Tuhoronuku, a hui of Ngapuhi elders in Kaikohe on Friday rejected his offer to step aside as runanga chair.
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