16/09/2026
Ngā Tarāpunga ātaahua need kai and protection! Leave the krill and fish for them to eat!
Unfortunately threatened red-billed gulls/tarāpunga are widely misunderstood due to prevailing false narratives 💔
This protected native species is undergoing mass decline due to human related impacts, with populations fragmenting and vanishing. As incredibly specialised seabirds reliant on krill, reduced upwellings due to decreased ocean productivity, are resulting in rapid loss.
Tarāpunga are not scavengers by nature, and always favour foraging at sea. In sites such as Kaikōura they have also adapted to feed on earthworms in pasture post heavy rain, as an alternative food source in lean times.
Locally, the marine environment changed significantly for tarāpunga from the 1970s, due to kahawai overfishing. Commercial and recreational fishing pressures have caused substantial depletion, with fewer surface work-ups by large predatory fish. Meanwhile, increasing sea surface temperatures (climate change) alter current systems and suppress prey availability to cooler depth, resulting in fewer natural upwellings. This results in increased foraging effort and decreased foraging success, causing loss of body condition, malnutrition, low reproductive success, and high mortality rates.
Tarāpunga are increasingly visible in urban areas due to chronic starvation, scavenging as a means of survival. A common sight at eateries, they are often considered a ‘nuisance’ and ‘pest’. They are despised for being vocal, as well as their p**p. It is important to remember that their presence in residential areas, is a direct result of human related activities on marine environments.
Whilst they may be more visible (which leads to incorrect assumptions of population increase), there are in fact less than ever. See gulls trying to steal your yummy morsels — remove ‘pesky’ from the equation and insert ‘desperately hungry’.
Sea based threats impacting foraging success, are the primary driver of mortality. On land, cat predation (feral, stray and pet) is a key threat at roosting and nesting sites — and can wipe out gull and tern colonies within a few short years. Add to this cumulative threats: fisheries bycatch, vehicle strike, and intentional harm.
Widely maligned, misunderstanding leads to lack of compassion and drives disdain, triggering intentional harm. In the Kaikōura district, gulls and fur seals are subject to cruelty for this very reason.
This week another tarāpunga was assessed due to intentional harm, requiring humane euthanasia. This taonga species deserves care and respect — community guardianship is critical. Tarāpunga belong in our environment and have a right to thrive alongside people. In challenging times, they need us to care now more than ever.
Kaikōura’s tarāpunga colony is the largest remaining and fastest declining mainland population in New Zealand. These birds are disappearing at an alarming rate due to severe starvation and predation pressure. This summer is set to be the worst on record for seabirds such as tarāpunga, with a strengthening super El Niño (warming ocean temperatures) set to cause widespread starvation. The impending spread of highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu will be catastrophic, and could be the final straw. Beaches and gulls go hand in hand, a foreshore without tarāpunga is a stark thought indeed.
How to help:
➡️ Please spread the word - we require more understanding and empathy.
➡️ Please slow down around gulls on roads - weak starving gulls seeking crumbs on roadsides are slow to take off.
➡️ Please report and aid injured gulls to facilitate handover.
➡️ Please keep dogs leashed in coastal areas.
➡️ Consider containing pet cats indoors overnight, when most roaming and predation behaviour takes place.
➡️ If fishing - please never cut the line on bycaught gulls, gently reel the bird in. Carefully cut and thread hooks out of beaks, and handover gulls with ingested fish hooks to the nearest vet clinic or wildlife rehabilitator for wildlife hospital transfer.
➡️ It is an illegal offence to harass, disturb, or harm wildlife under the Wildlife Act - please document and report immediately.
Vote Tarāpunga for 👇
https://www.birdoftheyear.org.nz/?bird=red-billed-gull
https://www.kaikourawildlifetrust.org/red-billed-gull
https://www.kaikourawildlifetrust.org/report-wildlife
