Dieter Wilhelm Ernst (56), who has spent the last nine weeks in the Otago Corrections Facility at Milburn, was approached for an interview in George St, Dunedin, yesterday morning.
"I have no time for [an interview] because my flight is going," the German pensioner said.
Despite his reluctance to be interviewed, Ernst confirmed he was looking for his accomplice, Thorsten Gerhard Horst Richartz (47), who was collecting items from the Dunedin Central Police Station.
The pair were sentenced last week to four and a-half months' jail for hunting and possessing protected wildlife - four jewelled geckos worth more than 5000 ($9000) each.
Three were taken from Otago Peninsula and one from Banks Peninsula in March. When asked if he was sorry, Ernst replied, "I can only say this is a nice country".
"My understanding for some things here are not so great."
Asked if taking the geckos was a misunderstanding, he replied: "I think so". He came across the geckos while visiting Otago Peninsula. "I was walking and I see them in the bush ... and I catch them".
Ernst said he planned to take them back to Germany, but did not know it was against the law.
"I catch them for fun, and for looking for myself."
He rejected any suggestion he was stealing the geckos to order, or their capture was premeditated.
"You must know when I come here I don't know what is it with these geckos and ... I don't know they are protected."
Ernst said his experience at the prison was "not a good time". The pair left Dunedin for Germany yesterday.
