The Government plans to introduce tough new penalties aimed at deterring would-be wildlife smugglers from entering New Zealand.
Conservation Minister Kate Wilkinson told the Otago Daily Times she had asked her department to investigate increasing smuggling penalties, to a maximum of three years' imprisonment, a fine of $200,000, or both.
"It's important that our laws can act as a deterrent to smugglers and I think this sends the right message."
Changes would be made under an amendment to the Conservation Bill, or a separate amendment to the Wildlife Act, and those convicted under the changes would be prevented from entering New Zealand again.
Under the Wildlife Act, a person taking an absolutely protected species can be sentenced to six months in prison or fined up to $105,000.
Earlier this year, three men who tried to smuggle threatened jewelled geckos from the Otago Peninsula were convicted and sentenced to brief jail terms.
In March, Ugandan resident Manfred Walter Bachmann (55) was sentenced to 15 weeks' jail, with Swiss national Thomas Price (31) and Spaniard Gustavo Toledo Albarran (28) sentenced to 18 weeks.
The judge at the sentencing of Price and Albarran called for an increase in sentences in such cases, a call endorsed by the minister.
She supported the work of the Wildlife Enforcement Group, a partnership between the New Zealand Customs Service, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the Department of Conservation, tasked with cracking down on the illegal trade of flora and fauna.
"They work hard to protect our endangered wildlife and apprehend smugglers, as they have done this year when they caught gecko smugglers in the act," she said.
A request by the ODT under the Official Information Act for an answer as to whether the agency knew the trio were possible wildlife smugglers before they entered New Zealand is before the Office of the Ombudsmen.
