New Zealand conservationists apologise over accidental shooting of endangered takahē

An inquiry is under way into how a cull of somewhat similar-looking pukeko birds has led to the slaughter of 5% of the wild population of takahA

The head of New Zealand's national deerstalkers' association has apologised "to the country at large" after four critically endangered takahA were mistakenly shot by hunters carrying out a cull of a somewhat similar-looking bird.

Deerstalkers were contracted by the Department of Conservation to carry out a cull of pukeko, a non-endangered, very common relative of the takahA, on an island sanctuary in Auckland's Hauraki Gulf.