Fraudulent voting hits Bird of the Year with influx of shag votes from Australia

October 5, 2018

The Bird of the Year competition has once again been marred by another voting scandal, after the shag received hundreds of "dubious" votes from Australia. 

Forest & Bird's independent scrutineer Dragonfly Data Science picked up the heightened voting from across the ditch, that came from one I.P. address. 

"They picked up the votes and shut them down," Forest & Bird said in a tweet. 

The shag received 310 votes in just over four hours. 

The blue duck was another recipient of fraudulent votes, with 28 attempts to "trick the system". 

The kea has been crowned New Zealand's Bird of the Year 2017, after a tense voting period not without scandal. 

Forest and Bird estimate less than 7000 kea remain.

A voting fraudster was caught making more than 100 fraudulent votes for Matuku Moana (white-faced heron).

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