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The organizers of the hotly contested Bird of the Year competition are in trouble after 1,500 fraudulent votes were cast for the pukupuku / small spotted kiwi.
Forest and Bird said the illegitimate votes briefly catapulted the bird to the top of the pecking order.
All were placed between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m. on Monday and were discovered that afternoon.
Barry harcourt
Forest and Bird was forced to intervene after 1,500 illegitimate votes were cast in favor of the small spotted kiwi.
Since then, the votes have been removed from the contest.
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“It’s lucky we saw this little kiwi trying to sneak an additional 1500 votes under the cover of darkness!” Said Bird of the Year spokeswoman Laura Keown.
“But they will have to follow the rules like all other birds to win the competition.”
Sean Gillespie / Stuff
The small-spotted kiwi is the smallest of the five types of kiwi.
Keown said the fraudulent votes were detected by a volunteer poll worker.
“It is extremely easy for him to see when there is a flood of illegal votes coming in.”
It’s unclear where the illegitimate votes came from, but one person is believed to be involved as all votes are tied to an IP address.
The person likely used an email replication program to cast thousands of votes “really fast,” Keown said.
Caroline Williams / Stuff
The kererū, known for getting drunk on fermented fruits and falling from trees, was voted Bird of the Year in 2018.
There is no indication that the votes were submitted from abroad, he added.
Those considering cheating should use their energy and enthusiasm to “go out and campaign” for their favorite bird, Keown said.
He said he hoped the competition wouldn’t get caught up in more cheating.
“We can only assume that they love birds so much, and are so excited to protect our native species that they try these fraudulent tactics.”
Caroline Williams / Stuff
The spotted fluff / parekareka is also in the running for the 2020 bird of the year.
However, he said the fraud would not escalate or be reported to the police.
Emma Rawson, campaign manager for Small Spotted Kiwifruit, said voter fraud is not the kiwi method.
“As the national emblem of Aotearoa, the speckled kiwi represents New Zealanders’ values of democracy, justice, equality and honesty.
“We do not approve of the illegal votes cast towards our cute little bird.”
Caroline Williams / Stuff
The world’s only alpine parrot, the kea, took home the Bird of the Year award in 2017.
Voting for Bird of the Year closes at 5 pm on Sunday, November 15.
Last year, the yellow-eyed penguin / hoiho reigned supreme.
This is not the first time that scammers have tried to influence the results of the annual competition.
In 2015, the campaign was briefly hijacked by a pair of overzealous kōkako lovers who cast hundreds of illegal votes from a hacked computer.
In 2018, the fluff became the center of the doubtful votes scandal after receiving 310 “doubtful” votes from an IP address in Australia.
