Forest and Bird are taking a Canterbury farmer to court, saying he cleared away a large amount of critically endangered shrubs on his land to plant oats.
Stuff reports that the farm in question, owned by Brent Thomas, is on Kaitorete Spit near Lake Ellesmere and is home to about 90 per cent of New Zealand's tororaro shrub.
Forest and Bird says Mr Thomas sprayed, cleared and cultivated some of the farm's paddocks, destroying about one third of New Zealand's tororaro.
They were tipped off by a member of the public and employed an ecologist to survey the land, which he did using a drone.
The organisation is now seeking clarity from the environment court, and are asking for Mr Thomas to be stopped from doing any further clearing of the shrub.
Chief executive Kevin Hague said "often it's a case of small impacts adding up to a major loss, but here a single incident has made it far more likely for a species to go extinct in the wild.
"That these plants remain in people's gardens does nothing to mitigate the impact – we have a responsibility to not let these species go extinct in the wild."
The Department of Conservation is now working with Mr Thomas to buy back a section of the area to preserve the remaining tororaro.
Mr Thomas told Stuff "we're horrified to find ourselves in this situation and are working as fast as we can to reach a collaborative, long-term solution".
SHARE ME