Wildlife Act 1953

General provisions

53A: Authority may be granted under section 53 to kill wildlife incidentally

You could also call this:

"Permission to accidentally harm animals while doing something allowed by law."

The Director-General can give you permission under section 53 to kill wildlife by accident when you are doing something that is otherwise allowed by law. You might kill wildlife by accident if it is not what you meant to do, but it is something that you can expect to happen when you are doing the lawful activity. The wildlife in this case refers to the wildlife or game mentioned in section 53(1), which you can find by following the link to section 53.

When the Director-General gives you this permission, they are allowing you to kill wildlife that dies as a result of something you are doing, as long as killing the wildlife is not your main goal. This means that you did not directly intend to kill the wildlife, but you knew it might happen when you did the activity. The Director-General's permission is based on the idea that the killing of wildlife is incidental, meaning it is not on purpose, but it is still something that can be expected to happen.

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This page was last updated on 24 May 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS1439718.

Topics:

Environment and resources > Conservation

53: Director-General may authorise taking or killing of wildlife for certain purposes, or

"When can the government let people catch or kill protected animals in New Zealand?"

53B: Authority under section 53 to kill wildlife incidentally: consistency with protection of wildlife, or

"Permission to accidentally harm wildlife, while still protecting it overall"

Part 5General provisions

53AAuthority may be granted under section 53 to kill wildlife incidentally

Without limiting section 53, the Director-General may grant an authority under that section that authorises killing of wildlife that is incidental to carrying out an otherwise lawful activity.
Killing of wildlife is incidental if it is not directly intended but is unavoidable and foreseeable as a consequence of carrying out the lawful activity.
In this section, wildlife means wildlife or game referred to in section 53(1).

Notes

Section 53A: inserted, on 14 May 2025, by section 4 of the Wildlife (Authorisations) Amendment Act 2025 (2025 No 22).