Fossil Whale Carted Away in Broad Daylight in New Zealand

[Crusty_Crab]

From the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/26/world/australia/new-zealand-whale-fossil.html

 

2 men used a rock saw and chisel to extract a fossil whale out of a riverbank that was a local attraction. Its not clear if thats illegal per New Zealand law. There are a few quotes from Bobby Boessenecker in the article. It seems amateur and commercial fossil collecting has exploded in the past few years along with the fossil market. The article implies that we'll see more of a push to codify laws to protect these fossils in response. 

[Fossildude19]

Article is soft paywalled.

Other links:

 

LINK 1 - Newsweek

 

LINK2 - STUFF

 

LINK 3 - RNZ

[MrR]

I just finished reading the article myself.  It's pretty despicable, IMO, that people can get away with stealing from their neighbors that way. It's not as if they found the fossil and may  have felt some finder's ownership over it. The fact that the one perpetrators was allegedly wearing an "outdated" uniform tells me that they knew what they were doing was flat wrong, and wanted to get their thievery done under the false color of authority.

[Crusty_Crab]

39 minutes ago, Fossildude19 said:

Article is soft paywalled.

Other links:

 

LINK 1 - Newsweek

 

LINK2 - STUFF

 

LINK 3 - RNZ

Thanks for the links! Apparently this has caused a splash in local journalism outlets. There is a way to access soft paywalled sites, through an archive service: https://archive.ph/

[Doctor Mud]

Interesting story. It’s something that has been going on for a while in NZ but not caught on camera or publicized like this.

overseas sales of Protected objects are illegal, but collecting them or even selling (some) locally is not. 

 

Id like to think the people at the center of this didn’t know any better, but the reports of one wearing an outdated Department of Conservation shirt, implies some deceit. 
 

There are assumptions that this fossil is going to be sold. These days this behavior can also be to generate material for social media fame. Film yourself on an adventure and gain followers, get money from YouTube etc. people can get caught up in the rush of fame and sometimes lose sight of what is best to protect our geological heritage.

 

 

Edited October 28, 2022 by Doctor Mud
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