{"id":42280,"date":"2025-09-25T08:23:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T08:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/42280\/"},"modified":"2025-09-25T08:23:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T08:23:09","slug":"eels-attacked-with-machetes-and-stones-in-tasman-creek","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/42280\/","title":{"rendered":"Eels attacked with machetes and stones in Tasman creek"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cameras might be installed if the attacks against the eels continue, the spokesperson said, to hold those responsible to account.<\/p>\n

Under the Animal Welfare Act 1999, it is illegal to wilfully or recklessly harm wild animals, including native freshwater eels.<\/p>\n

\u201cEels are recognised as sentient beings and harming them can result in prosecution and fines.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrowing stones, cutting\/stabbing, or causing distress to eels is a serious offence.\u201d<\/p>\n

The council advised anyone who has witnessed eel cruelty to report it to the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d encourage anyone with information about cruelty to eels to contact us on 0800 00 83 33 so we can look into it,\u201d an MPI spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

Eels can live in New Zealand rivers and streams for 20 to 100 years before returning to the ocean to spawn and die.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear how old the eels cut up in Borck Creek were, but there has previously been outrage online against two men<\/a> who posed with some aged 60-70 years old at Willowbank Wildlife Reserve in Christchurch.<\/p>\n

In February, hundreds of eels were found dead in \u014cr\u0101kei Basin by a man riding his bike in the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cAcross the organisation, we are currently undertaking a range of water testing to see if we can determine the cause and are awaiting results,\u201d said the head of Auckland Council\u2019s healthy waters department, Andrew Skelton. \u201cWe are not aware of any other eel deaths at other waterway locations.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cameras might be installed if the attacks against the eels continue, the spokesperson said, to hold those responsible…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42281,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[95,1344,1558,34692,37827,305,42,78,37829,37828,43,28724,2224,40,38,41,39,102],"class_list":["post-42280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-and","tag-attacked","tag-been","tag-creek","tag-eels","tag-have","tag-headlines","tag-in","tag-machete","tag-machetes","tag-news","tag-stones","tag-tasman","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}