An Auckland woman says she is disgusted after finding six Lime scooters dumped in a pond in downtown Auckland.
Lori Haggarty says the discarded e-scooters scared away local birdlife, and, she suspects, were also responsible for a dead duck found floating in the pond.
Haggarty, who works in the area, said she found the scooters in the pond, located on Mahuhu Crescent outside Spark Arena, on Friday last week.
- Kiwi teens filmed pushing Lime scooter off cliff in social media video
- Man dies after Auckland electric scooter crash
- Auckland Lime scooter death was 'medical event' - police
After having fed a pair of ducks in the pond over a period of a couple of months, Haggarty says she recently found the birds were joined by newly born ducklings.
"I was blown away with happiness to find out there were nine beautiful, healthy ducklings that had made this safe and clean pond their home," she said.
However, a few days later, she says she felt "complete disgust" when she saw the scooters thrown in the water.
"I quickly ran down to the pond and started to look for the ducks and ducklings and found one duck with only three ducklings," she said.
"I was devastated."
Haggarty says she immediately contacted the council and Lime to get the scooters taken away.
Around an hour after her complaint, Lime removed the scooters from the pond, she said.
Lime told Newshub that it "was not okay" to use its scooters in acts of vandalism like this.
"To see this kind of activity is disappointing and I really encourage anyone with information to come forward so the authorities can act and these people can be charged with the crime that they've committed," said Mitchell Price, Lime's head of government relations in Asia Pacific.
Police also confirmed they responded to a callout regarding the matter, but a spokesperson said "no offender had been identified".
Haggarty said it brings her "great sadness to imagine someone acting out like this".
"Causing harm to wildlife, especially young ducklings, is a disgrace."
On a more positive note, Haggarty said she had since been told by police that all nine ducklings have been accounted for and reunited with their mother.
"I was absolutely delighted. Actually, I started to cry knowing that the ducklings and the mum were safe."
However, she did fear that the dead duck she saw floating in the pond was the father who has not been seen since.
The incident is the second act of vandalism involving Lime scooters reported recently.
Footage uploaded to video-sharing app TikTok last month, showed a teenager pushing a scooter off the edge of a cliff in Christchurch.
Newshub.
