More protected forest geckos stolen in break-in at NZ wildlife park...

Green Planet reports another despicable act of theft from the KiwiNorth museum and heritage park in Whangarei recently. Seven native geckos were stolen from this Northland heritage park and could fetch up to $14,000 on the European black market.

These protected New Zealand  forest geckos were taken after thieves broke into the park after forcing a lock on an enclosure. Park director Sue Walters said the assumption was the geckos would be smuggled overseas.

However, there were documeted cases in NZ of geckos being kept as pets. This would at least keep these animals in the country.

Wildlife Enforcement group senior investigator Stuart Willamson said colleagues had seen forest geckos for sale in Europe for about 1000 Euros or NZ$1700, Four of the stolen geckos were part of a program to repopulate areas the geckos once lived in.

Ms Walters said their staff was devastated . One of the geckos was Fat Albert,  who survived a similar burglary in the park in 2006. He was named as such because he ate all the flies before the other geckos could get to them. He had recently been sick and close attachments had been formed with the staff who had nursed him back to full health.

Four geckos stolen in 2006 had never been recovered. She said security would be improved at the park.

Mr Williamson said the forest gecko was not uncommon in New Zealand but had absolutely protected status,  and was an internationally regulated species. Overseas sales could prove difficult.

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Two tourists jailed in New Zealand for theft of rare geckos - endangered species......

Image by PhillipC via Flickr

Two tourists jailed in New Zealand  for theft of rare geckos - endangered species...







Swiss stockbroker Thomas Price and Mexican chef Gustavo Toledo-Albarran have been jailed for 18 weeks over theft of rare geckos.


Two men who admitted their part in the theft of 16 rare jewelled geckos have both been sent to jail for 18 weeks.



Swiss stockbroker Thomas Price and Mexican chef Gustavo Toledo-Albarran were both sentenced in the Christchurch District Court this afternoon for taking and possessing protected wildlife.



Judge Raoul Neave told the pair to consider themselves lucky, as if he was able to impose a more serious penalty he would.



The maximum term for the offences is six months in jail. Judge Neave started at the maximum term but gave Price and Toledo-Albarran a reduction for their early guilty pleas. He told the court there is endangered wildlife all over the world and what the pair did was no different to the actions of ivory hunters.



The pair's co-accused Manfred Bachmann was jailed for 15 weeks earlier this month.




Acknowledgements: © 2010 NZCity, NewsTalkZB

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