In a case of foul play (couldn’t help myself), our Kiwi neighbour’s annual competition to choose Bird of the Year has been hit by scandal after 300 fake votes were submitted from Australia – backing the shag for the win.
Forest & Bird New Zealand, which runs the poll to raise awareness of the country’s rare birdlife, has labelled the votes for the amusingly-named bird – known as the black cormorant here – as “potentially someone’s idea of a joke”.
The false votes were picked up by their new data scientist, who was hired for the first time in the competition’s 14 years after a series of voting controversies in recent years that included 100 fake votes by someone in Christchurch last year for the white-faced heron.
Of course, New Zealand’s poll isn’t the only one to be struck by suspicious voting activity. Our own inaugural Bird of the Year poll came under scrutiny last year after a large number of votes were recorded for the powerful owl (gotta love a powerful owl).
Still, the Kiwis are confident the best bird will take out the top gong after voting closes on 14 October – despite the cheeky Aussie interference.
What can we say? They must have been desperate for a ‘shag’.
