A passionate New Zealand bird lover has threatened the country’s popular bird of the year competition with legal action if it fails to include a bird that has been extinct for more than 100 years.
In a phone call and follow-up email to Forest & Bird, which runs the competition, now in its 17th year, a man said he was calling upon the group to “urgently include” the extinct huia as a 2022 candidate.
The huia – a striking songbird that was sacred to Māori and prized for its black and white tail feathers – was last sighted in 1907. Introduced pests, habitat destruction and, to a lesser extent, hunting devastated the population.
In his letter, which Forest & Bird posted to social media, the man wrote: “It is time for New Zealanders to be given the opportunity to recognise the existential damage inflicted upon so many of our feathered friends as a result of our obsession with pasture and plantation,” adding that it was an opportunity to “mourn so sad and desolate a loss”.
“There is currently in circulation the insane assertion that New Zealand is the most efficient producer of beef in the world and that we should intensify production to prevent less efficient nations from taking up any shortfall,” he wrote.
“We need to be urgently reminded of what we have already lost, if we are to minimise further loss.”
He went on to describe the legal actions he may take, including an injunction to suspend voting until the huia is made a candidate, or failing that, a class action “on behalf of all the extinct birds of New Zealand, which will allege discrimination on the basis of conservation status”.
NZ's Bird of the Year being threatened with a Class Action??
— Forest & Bird (@Forest_and_Bird) October 17, 2022
Never #BirdOfTheYear without a scandal... pic.twitter.com/o7p53QM6Th
A Forest & Bird spokesperson, Ellen Rykers said the competition always “inspires such passion in New Zealanders” but the team had not yet heard from the man’s lawyers.
Adding extinct birds to the competition was not a new idea and had been floated before, Rykers said. “This year, we have gone with the ‘under-birds’, but maybe we’ll look at it in future years.”
Roughly 50 birds have become extinct since humans arrived in New Zealand.
“Highlighting what we’ve lost and connecting it to the fact that about 80% of our native bird species are threatened, or at risk of extinction, could be an interesting thing,” Rykers said.
