The carcass of a Himalayan tahr was found in a public rubbish bin in the centre of Methven in Canterbury this week.
By Jonathan Leak, Local Democracy Reporter
An image of the carcass stuffed in the bin circulated on a local social media page on Monday before being removed.
Ashburton District Council infrastructure group manager Neil McCann said the incident was reported to the council as illegal dumping via the Snap Send Solve app on Monday.
“Our litter bin truck went to collect it early the following morning, but the carcass had already been removed.
“The bin was cleaned to prevent any issues with odours.
“As the carcass had already been removed, there was nothing to follow up.”
He said the council's solid waste bylaw states that public litter bins can't be used in a manner that creates a nuisance, is offensive, or creates a risk to public health.
“It's clearly not the appropriate place to dump a carcass.
“Public litter bins are provided for disposing of small amounts of rubbish generated while out and about.”
One of the organisers of the Mid Canterbury Hunting Competition, that was held over the weekend, dismissed claims online that it was related to the event.
“Didn’t hear about it on the day, nothing about it now and it’s Thursday, so nothing to do with us," Andy Wilson.
Organisers have no control over what people did outside of the competition, he said.
“That could have been anybody.”
McCann said the council was “not aware of any evidence that would connect this incident to the competition”.
A year ago, a dead wallaby was dumped in the centre of Ashburton.
The council’s CCTV network came under scrutiny when it failed to help identify the person responsible.
The council reported that the CCTV footage captured a four-wheel drive vehicle entering the West St car park and a person dragging a wallaby over the rail crossing to the timber seating next to the public toilets on East Street.
The vehicle was too far away to clearly identify, and the person dragging the wallaby was wearing dark clothing and was also unable to be identified.
For any prosecution, the CCTV footage has to provide an identifiable image to police.
– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
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