property ownership new-zealand animals
Can one claim unclaimed poultry living on their property?
<p>Some time ago I dug out a pond on my piece of land in a small rural town in New Zealand. The intention was to attract wild ducks there and maybe have some domestic ducks, which I told all my neighbours.</p>

<p>Almost a year ago a couple of white domestic ducks showed up in the pond. They have been living there since then, occasionally fed by myself. None of my neighbours have any idea where they came from and who the owner could be (at least this is what they are telling me). The pond is rather prominent in the town so most locals now know that the ducks are there, still noone has ever shown up to say they are the owners.</p>

<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/J7xxc.jpg" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/J7xxc.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p>Can or could I ever legally claim the ducks?</p>

<p>From the picture, I believe those to be <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_goose" rel="nofollow noreferrer">domestic geese</a> rather than ducks. This is not needless pedantry; it is necessary pedantry because the <a href="http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1953/0031/latest/whole.html?search=ts_act@bill@regulation@deemedreg_Wildlife+Act+1953_resel_25_a&amp;p=1#DLM277211" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Wildlife Act 1953</a> classifies geese as "Wildlife not protected" but ducks (relevant species) as "game". If they are game you need to abide by the relevant Fish and Game Council regulations (from a quick look it is legal to shoot them on your property but you need a licence to own and breed them; it seems unlikely anyone would worry about two waterfowl), but if they are geese they are as much, and as little, your property as a coin you found in the garden. There are no identifying marks and you have made a reasonable effort to find the owner, so you can treat them as your own. It is always possible for someone to claim they belong to him and should be returned, but the burden of proof will be on him to prove that these specific birds were concealed from him after escape or that you deliberately enticed them away, which seems hardly worth worrying about.</p>
