Poachers beware - the spotlight is being focused on illegal hunting in and around Central Otago.
An increasing problem with poachers has prompted police to establish a wide "neighbourhood watch" network in the high country, with the aim of moving illegal hunters from the hills to the court.
Areas in and between Omakau, Alexandra, Cromwell, Tarras and the Lindis Pass will be included within the initial scope of the scheme.
Senior Constable Fred Aplin, of Omakau, is spearheading the plan after a 17-year-old Alexandra youth was yesterday arrested and charged with offences relating to poaching in July.
Snr Const Aplin said the teenager was allegedly spotlighting a wild deer on private farmland between Alexandra and Omakau on July 18.
"This is just the very small tip of an enormous iceberg. Poaching is absolutely rife in this area . . . People are driving all over the district to hunt illegally," he said.
Although he held a firearms licence, the youth was charged with a firearms offence and an offence under the Wildlife Animal Control Act, which relates to hunting on private property without the owner's permission.
He was in a vehicle on a road when he spotted the deer.
He stopped and shot it with a "high-powered hunting rifle", Snr Const Aplin said.
"A number of shots were heard, some of which were within 30m of a dwelling, which caused the occupants a fair amount of distress. A wild deer which had crossed private land was shot, killed and gutted on the property before being removed," he said.
Snr Const Aplin said most rural properties in Central Otago would have been subject to poaching within the last 12 months.
Yesterday's arrest was the first this year for poaching in Central Otago, he said.
Snr Const Aplin said he did not think the recession was driving people to seek cheap meat, but rather it was something people thought they could get away with.
Stock was being shot, as well as pests, with at least one case of a ram being poached.
Snr Const Aplin said poaching posed a danger to humans, particularly at night, when pest control staff employed to shoot rabbits and hares could not be seen by illegal hunters.
"People indiscriminately spotlighting and hunting don't know who else is in the area, and some rural property owners are concerned about the safety of their workers," he said.
People on rural properties, including sheep stations, were being asked to assist police in the scheme, as well as anyone who had concerns about poachers or unknown vehicles on private property.
