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Gecko - Source: ONE News -
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Sixteen rare jewelled geckos at the centre of a foiled smuggling bid are now back where they belong after being released into bush near Dunedin.
The three offenders who tried to smuggle the geckos abroad in plastic pipes have been locked up, but the Department of Conservation (DoC) worries it will happen again.
Numbering just in the hundreds, their rarity makes them worth around $12,000 each on the wildlife black market.
DoC area manager Ronin Thomas says their high value and scarceness is a huge worry.
"It doesnt take many animals out of the small population here, especially when they're breeding animals, to have a massive impact," says Thomas.
The geckos are going back to exactly the same bushes where masters student Carey Knox recorded their presence around Christmas. Anywhere else could mean trouble.
"There could be issues with disease and that you might put them into the wrong place and spread disease around," says Knox.
That's bad news for 44 brown geckos, taken from near Twizel this summer in another foiled smuggling bid.
The risk of putting them back in the wrong place means they will never go home.
There is no sympathy for smugglers here.
"I think they deserve a lot worse. I'd like to see them receive harsher penalties in the future," says Knox.
Although they have endured a stressful time, the Otago geckos are expected to settle back home well.
