RIGHTS OF GANNETS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 105, 3 January 1940, Page 7

RIGHTS OF GANNETS

WHAT IS A "SANCTUARY?" REPLY TO RANGER S CONTENTIONS Captain E. V. Sanderson, president of the Foiest and Bird Protection Society, has replied to Mr Alan C. Dull', honorary ranker of the Cannet Sanctuary at Capo Kidnappers, "who contends that the birds arc not worried by the presence of human visitors during the nesting period. "The ordinary meaning of sanctuary, as given in a dictionary, is 'a sacred or place, as a church, a temple or a sacred grave,'" writes Captain Sanderson. "Obviously, the original intention long ago, when Cape Kidnappers was proclaimed a sanctuary for gannets, was to ensure that the birds would have a place to raise their young in peace. The purpose was not to 'make a scenic resort of Cape Kidnappers. "In his defence of the intrusion of human beings, Cr DufT remarks: "T say definitely that the public do not interfere unduly with the birds . . . Admittedly, there have been cases where the birds have been disturbed, but in the main, the public are learning to refrain from doing anything which would be detrimental, and I feel that it would be a calamity to close the sanctuary to the public."

Cause For Fear. "The admission of the fact that cases of disturbance have occurred gives cause for fear that in time the instinct of self-preservation may induce the gannets to seek a less accessible place than Cape Kidnappers. In such a course they would be followed the example of terns which deserted the islands at Black Reef, Cape Kidnappers, in 1932, when vandals made a raid on their eggs. Mr Dufr has reported that numbers of terns returned only re-, cently, thus showing that it has taken the birds seven years to regain their confidence in Black Reef "In the illustrated book, '"Sea and Shore Birds," recently issued by the Forest and Bird Protection Society, a leading ornithologist states thai pied shags have a tendency to move from areas where their nests arc threatened. Well, generally, the approach of a human being to an exposed nest, must seem like a threat to a sitting bird. The protective instinct gives it courage to remaifn on the nest, but it is probably in a state of fright. "A clause of the Animals Protection and Game Act, 15)21-22, in reference to sanctuaries, mentions that 'animal includes bird and reptile; and another section puts a prohibition on any person 'to do anything likely to cause any such animal to leave such area.' I believe that per-, sons tramping about among closely clustered nests of a sanctuary are doing something likely to cause the birds to leave the area. This I impulse may come upon them suddenly, as it has done with othei species of birds, which have not been allowed by mankind to nest in neace.