A bird cull on a New Zealand island has been abruptly halted after marksmen killed four rare takahe, an endangered species with only 300 known to exist, officials said Friday. The deaths were "deeply disappointing", Conservation Department director Andrew Baucke said in a statement. "The hunters had been carefully briefed on how to differentiate between the flightless takahe and pukeko, including instructions to only shoot birds on the wing," Baucke said.
Marksmen kill endangered species in New Zealand bird cull
