Urewera moa "more likely to be emu"

09-Jan 07:27

Claims that the moa is alive and well and roaming in remote North Island bush are being disputed by a researcher who says it is more likely to be emus.

New South Wales natural science researcher Rex Gilroy says he's closing in on the colony of the presumed-extinct little scrub moa - anomalopteryx didiformis - in the Urewera Ranges.

Gilroy, a cryptozoologist (studies hidden animals) said he had evidence of a small colony in the Ureweras.

"As far as I'm concerned they're definitely out there."

Gilroy and wife Heather plan to arrive in New Zealand in late February and spend several nights in the Ureweras to stake out the site with a camera "for as long as it takes".

However a Hawke's Bay cryptozoology researcher Tony Lucas is keeping an open mind on the possibility of moa still being alive in the Ureweras but thinks the evidence could point to emus.

Mr Lucas, unable to join the hunt for New Zealand's hidden species because of ill health, and who is confining his role mainly to researching other reports, says modern claims of moa sightings in New Zealand have mainly been in the South Island.

The greater human population of the North Island has made it less likely that moa could exist without being found, Hawkes Bay Today reported today.

Mr Lucas says there have been emus in the Ureweras, where the Gilroys plan to start a new search for moa.

Mr Lucas says there are several cryptozoologists active in New Zealand, and his own website includes research of many sightings.

They range from the moehau, big cats such as the panther-like creature reported on the Canterbury Plains, and giant gecko and lizards, to the moa.

Mr Lucas said he was concerned that sightings made by New Zealanders in New Zealand do notm to be taken as seriously as those reported by visitors such as Rex and Heather Gilroy, but there have been many claims of sightings of unusual animals over the years.

The Gilroy's have plaster casts of possible moa prints seen mainly in mud in the area six years ago, and on another visit in November found harder tracks and evidence of what they believe may have been a nesting area.

Mr Gilroy refuses to reveal the location for fear of an influx of people will scare away the birds, and has turned down an offer from a television crew to accompany him.

"We operate on our own - any larger expedition would create too much noise.

"I'm hoping for something on film but I'd be happy to find more tracks."

Gilroy, 64, has made eight separate research trips to New Zealand since 1980, when he discovered a lower leg bone of a moa in the far north.

After the Ureweras expedition he plans to visit eight more sites throughout the South Island, from the Abel Tasman National Park to Lake Te Anau, to investigate other moa sightings.

NZPA