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Speaker 1: Shock, horror and online hate this week for that American

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Speaker 1: who came here, the reality TV show contestant who came

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Speaker 1: here and murdered one of our native birds and then

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Speaker 1: ate it. I have a confession for you. It was

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Speaker 1: a weker that he did that he killed and ate.

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Speaker 1: I have a confession, I too have killed and eaten wekcker. Yes,

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Speaker 1: but it was buff wecker on the Chatnam Islands and

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Speaker 1: you're allowed to. It's the only place you can do

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Speaker 1: it in New Zealand. And it's delicious. I have to confess.

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Speaker 1: It tasted like a cross between chicken and pork, quite greasy,

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Speaker 1: but really delicious. And you go over there. I went

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Speaker 1: there to film for a TV show. You sit in

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Speaker 1: the ute in the evening drinking whiskey with the local guys.

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Speaker 1: The dogs go out, get them, bring them to the

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Speaker 1: window of the ute. They snapped the neck, throw them

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Speaker 1: on the back of the tray. They said that sometimes

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Speaker 1: they could get hundreds in a night, and they're a

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Speaker 1: pest over there, so they would run rampant and take

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Speaker 1: over the island. And they the other thing is they

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Speaker 1: eat native bird eggs, so they're double bad anyway. So

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Speaker 1: there we are over there eating wecker, having a great time.

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Speaker 1: And Roger Beatty is a conservationist and an entrepreneur who

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Speaker 1: was there with us, and he reckons we should farm

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Speaker 1: worker on the mainland. He says no farmed species has

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Speaker 1: ever died out. Currently it's illegal to sell wecker, so

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Speaker 1: you can't in New Zealand. Doc is dead against it,

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Speaker 1: but Roger says we farm plenty of other species in

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Speaker 1: New Zealand, shellfish trees, so why not birds. It's an

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Speaker 1: interesting take. He's a bit of a radical, this guy.

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Speaker 1: Doc says that predator free sanctuaries are the way to go,

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Speaker 1: and they're working. I mean they are working. You look

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Speaker 1: at Wellington for example, that is working. They're dead against

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Speaker 1: farming of any species, but I kind of think all

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Speaker 1: options should be on the table. Eighty two percent of

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Speaker 1: bird species are currently threatened with extinction or at risk

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Speaker 1: of becoming threatened. So can we really be that picky

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Speaker 1: or fussy if we're serious about saving them, it's at

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Speaker 1: least worth a wee. Look, see, I would have thought

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Speaker 1: air or online and keep our shows with you wherever

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