ALBATROSSES EATEN

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVIII, Issue 21575, 10 February 1940, Page 14

ALBATROSSES EATEN

ILLEGAL KILLING When the Hon. W. E. Parry, Minister of Internal Affairs, said recently that he would make an investigation into the killing of young albatrosses on the Chatham Islands, he remarked that “certain species were protected.’’ The full fact is that nine species of that majestic bird are protected under the provisions of the Animals Protection and Game Act, 1921-22. The list comprises the Royal Albatrosses, the Wandering Albatrosses, the Sooty Albatrosses, and the following mollyhawks: the Black-browed, the Yellownosed, the Bounty Island, Campbell Island, Snares Island, and the Chatham Island. It is well known in certain circles that many young albatrosses during many years have been killed for food in the Chathams. “It is not a case of need,” says one complainant. “The persons who do the killing have plenty of other food—all kinds of fish, beef, mutton, poultry and so on—but they regard the young albatross as a delicacy, when it is cooked in a special way, and so they go on cheerfully breaking the law, year after year. It will be very easy—or should be very easy—for the Minister to get plenty of evidence in support of that statement.”