A man who killed two pigs penned on private property, gutted them, and took the carcasses, admitted stealing the animals.
Matthew Glen Armishaw (24), unemployed, entered his plea before Judge Stephen Coyle in the Dunedin District Court yesterday and was remanded to March 4.
Prosecutor Sergeant Ross Hutton said Armishaw travelled to Taimona, North Taieri, to go pig hunting with his dogs, on January 10.
He left his vehicle on the roadside and went into the adjacent Wenita forestry area.
During the hunt, Armishaw walked on to private property where there were two pigs, valued at $600, in a pen and sty.
Armishaw and his dogs got into the pen where he caught and killed the two pigs.
He gutted them, leaving the offal behind, and left taking the two carcasses with him.
Spoken to, Armishaw admitted having been hunting there that day.
He stated his dogs had found the two pigs in the sty without him realising where they had gone.
And he only killed the pigs as the dogs had "worried" and damaged them.
Armishaw accepted he had no right to be on the property.
He did not know who owned the pigs.
Charged further with trespassing on Berwick Forest having been warned by Wenita Forest Products to stay off, and pig hunting on land at Berwick without the authority of the owner, on January 20, Armishaw also admitted that offending.
Sgt Hutton said Armishaw was issued with a trespass order covering Wenita Forest Products property on October 27 last year.
About midday on January 20, he went to Berwick Forest with an associate who drove them in a vehicle towing a trailer and a quadbike.
Parking the vehicle on a public access road, they removed the quadbike and drove to a locked gate with signage stating "Private property, trespassers will be prosecuted".
The pair lifted the quadbike around the side of the gate and on to Wenita property.
With a pack of six hunting dogs in tow, they hunted for wild pigs over the next six hours, catching and killing one animal.
In explanation, Armishaw said they had been hunting but did not know it was Wenita property.
On March 4, Armishaw is to appear also on two unrelated charges on which he is remanded without plea.
