Duncan Eddy with his 17-month-old son Kahu at the Scott
Memorial above Port Chalmers, minus the resident hens and
roosters. Photo by Peter McIntosh.
The sight of dead and dying hens at the Scott Memorial
above Port Chalmers is upsetting visitors and the Dunedin City
Council has no idea of the cause.
Osborne resident Duncan Eddy said he was a regular visitor to
the tourist spot because his 16-month-old son Kahu loved to
chase the hens and roosters in the car park.
However, on a visit last weekend he was disturbed to find two
of the hens dead, a third on its back, flapping its wings
weakly, and a fourth hen appearing "drunk" and struggling to
walk.
A visit by the Otago Daily Times to the site yesterday found
one dead hen and no sign of any living hens.
"It's sad. They're an institution," Mr Eddy said.
"It's not the best entertainment, taking your kids to visit
the roosters and finding them dead or dying."
Mr Eddy said numbers in the brood had been growing recently,
and on his last count a week ago, there were about 20.
He believed the hens had been poisoned.
"Maybe someone thought they were pests because there has been
a lot of them around there recently."
Dunedin City Council Environmental Health team leader Ros
MacGill said the council had not been using poison in the
area, and staff normally relocated problem hens or roosters
rather than poisoning them.
A pest control contractor had been at the site on Monday and
saw dogs chasing the brood.
"That may be the cause. But I can't rule out the possibility
that someone else may have taken the matter into their own
hands."
The council would be keeping a close eye on the situation,
she said.
Mr Eddy said if someone was laying poison in a public place,
they should consider the small children running about the
area.
"It should be well signposted."
john.lewis@odt.co.nz
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