New Zealand Legislation: Acts

2 Interpretation

• (1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—

  activity includes a business, trade, or occupation

  aerodrome has the meaning for the time being defined in section 2 of the Civil Aviation Act 1990; and includes any casual landing site or take-off site used by aircraft

  aircraft has the meaning for the time being defined in section 2 of the Civil Aviation Act 1990; and includes a helicopter

  brand has the meaning for the time being defined in Part 5 of the Animals Act 1967

  carcass, in relation to any wild animal, means the dead body or any part of the dead body thereof

  commercial, in relation to hunting or killing or capturing or holding any wild animal, means so doing for personal gain or pecuniary reward from the sale, barter, exchange, or giving of the animal or any part thereof, whether or not the commercial activity or transaction constitutes the sole or any lesser part of the means of livelihood of the commercial operator

  concession means a concession granted under section 22 in the form of a licence or permit that does not create an interest in land or that does create an interest in land that is non-exclusive

  conservation management strategy means a conservation management strategy approved under the Conservation Act 1987

  Crown-owned land, except where otherwise stated, means unoccupied land vested in Her Majesty and administered by a Minister for the time being charged with the administration of the department of State that has control of the land; and includes all land for the time being forming part of any national park or maritime park

  defence area means any land that is set apart, used, or occupied for the purposes of the Armed Forces within the meaning of the Defence Act 1990, and on which any species of wild animal is normally present

  Department means the Department of Conservation

  Director-General means the Director-General of Conservation

  domestic animal—

  • (a) means—

    • (i) any cattle, sheep, horse, mule, ass, dog, or cat; and

    • (ii) any pig or goat that is not a wild animal as defined in this section; but

  • (b) does not include any animal referred to in paragraph (a) that is living in a wild state, or any other animal not referred to in this definition notwithstanding that it may be living in a domestic state

  enclosure, in relation to any wild animal that is kept in captivity, includes any fenced area of land and any premises or cage used to contain the animal

  exporter, in relation to any wild animal that it is intended to export, includes the owner, or consignor, or the agent for the owner or consignor, of the animal

  feral range, in relation to any wild animal, means the area that, in the opinion of the Director-General, is from time to time occupied by a free ranging population of wild animals of that species, excluding transient wanderers from the main herd and from the range of the main herd

  firearm means any gun, rifle, airgun, or air rifle (whether any such firearm is in working order or not); and includes any kind of weapon or device from which any shot, bullet, arrow, spear, stone, or other missile can be discharged; and shoot has a corresponding meaning

  hunt or kill, in relation to wild animals, includes—

  • (a) hunting or searching for any wild animal, and killing, taking, trapping, capturing, having in possession, tranquillising, or immobilising any such animal by any means:

  • (b) pursuing, disturbing, or molesting any such animal:

  • (c) taking or using any dog, firearm, vehicle, vessel, aircraft, net, snare, trap, poison, or like method while engaged in hunting any such animal, whether or not this results in capturing or killing any such animal:

  • (d) attempting to hunt or capture or kill any such animal while engaged in recreational, commercial, or guided hunting or hunting to capture live wild animals for export, farming, sale, breeding, exchange, public display, scientific, or other purposes:

  • (e) engaging in a wild animal recovery operation

  keep in captivity, in relation to any wild animal, means to enclose, restrain, or otherwise detain or harbour the animal by any means whatsoever; and includes the transport of the animal in a secure conveyance to a duly authorised place of captivity or to a ship or an aircraft for export from New Zealand; but does not include temporary immobilisation for the purpose of marking; and kept in captivity has a corresponding meaning

  land means land of any tenure

  liberate, in relation to any wild animal, means to set at liberty or release or allow to go at large, whether or not the act is deliberate or is a result of negligence or lack of care by the person having the wild animal in his ownership or care

  licence or permit means a written or printed licence or permit signed by the Director-General, which allows the person specified therein to do certain things, subject to any conditions that may be included, in or on a defined area of land, for a specified purpose, and a specified period of time, with or without payment of a specified fee

  local authority—

  • (a) means a local authority within the meaning of the Local Government Act 2002; and

  • (b) in relation to any island adjacent to the coast of New Zealand which is not included in the district of any such local authority, means the Minister

  mark, in relation to any wild animal not held under licence or permit, means any method of marking the animal, or attaching something to the animal so that it can be identified; and marking has a corresponding meaning

  Minister means the Minister of Conservation

  occupier, in relation to any land, means any owner, lessee, licensee, or occupant of the land, and includes the known agent of any such owner, lessee, licensee, or occupant, and any manager, overseer, superintendent, or person in possession or charge of the land, and the Minister for the time being responsible for the administration of the department of State that has the control of the land

  operator, in relation to any commercial hunting for wild animal recovery or air transport of hunters or game meat or other business, means a person directly or indirectly facilitating commercial hunting or wild animal recovery; and includes his employer, employees, and agents

  owner, in relation to any animal, conveyance, or enclosure, means any owner or joint owner thereof (other than a mortgagee not in possession); and includes any superintendent, overseer, employee, agent, carrier, master or captain of a ship or aircraft, or other person, having possession or charge thereof, and any consignee thereof

  poison, in relation to any wild animal, means using or attempting to use or having in possession in a form in which it can be used, any preparation or substance used to immobilise or tranquillise or kill wild animals

  public notification or public notice, in relation to any act, matter, or thing, means a notice published in the New Zealand Gazette, or published in 1 or more newspapers circulating in the place or area to which the act, matter, or thing relates or refers or in which it arises; and publicly notified has a corresponding meaning

  recreation, in relation to hunting, means hunting as a pastime, or with the object of obtaining relaxation, without gaining pecuniary reward or gain from the hunting, or from the sale of any wild animal or part thereof

  regional council means a regional council within the meaning of the Local Government Act 2002

  regulated deer farm means a deer farm regulated under section 12A(2); and regulated area has a corresponding meaning

  safari park means a farm where income is derived from wild animals being hunted on the farm

  sale includes barter and exchange for consideration, and also includes offering or attempting to sell, or receiving for sale, or having in possession for sale, or exposing for sale, or sending or conveying or delivering for sale, or causing or allowing to be sold or raffled, or offered or exposed for sale; and sell has a corresponding meaning

  specified hunting area, specified area, or land, in relation to any zoning of land or in relation to any permit, licence, or written authority to enter onto land to hunt, means the area of land described therein

  specified wild animal, means any wild animal of a species or class specially listed or mentioned in this Act as one that may, under permit, licence, or other authority, be captured, conveyed, held in captivity, or exported; or any wild animal of any sex or species or class referred to in any permit or licence or other authority to enter onto land to hunt wild animals

  vehicle means any wheeled or tracked device, or hovercraft, or ski equipped device capable of carrying a person or persons, whether or not it is powered by an internal combustion engine

  vessel has the meaning for the time being defined in section 2 of the Harbours Act 1950

  warranted officer has the same meaning as in the Conservation Act 1987

  wild animal—

  • (a) means—

    • (i) any deer (including wapiti or moose):

    • (ii) any chamois, thar, wallaby, or possum (Trichosurus vulpecula):

    • (iii) any goat that is not—

      • (A) held behind effective fences or otherwise constrained; and

      • (B) identified in accordance with an identification system registered under section 3 of the Animal Identification Act 1993 or in accordance with an identification system approved under section 50 of the Biosecurity Act 1993 and approved by the Director-General for the purposes of this Act:

    • (iv) any pig that is living in a wild state and is not being herded or handled as a domestic animal or kept within an effective fence or enclosure for farming purposes:

    • (v) any member of any species or class of land mammals that the Governor-General may from time to time, by Order in Council, declare to be wild animals for the purposes of this Act; and

  • (b) includes the whole or any part of the carcass of any such animal:

  • (c) except for deer lawfully kept in captivity for the purposes of farming, does not include any animal kept in captivity pursuant to a permit or licence that is effective for the purposes of section 12 during the currency of the permit or licence and the observance of all conditions under which the permit or licence has been issued

  wild animal recovery operation means the use of an aircraft (whether or not for hire or reward) to carry out 1 or more of the following activities:

  • (a) the searching for, shooting, or immobilising of wild animals:

  • (b) the recovering of wild animals (whether dead or alive) or of any part of those wild animals:

  • (c) the carriage of persons, supplies, equipment, firearms, ammunition, poisons, or other things that may be used for the purpose of paragraph (a) or paragraph (b).

  (2) Every reference in any regulations made under this Act to the Director-General of Forests, a Forest Officer, the Forest Service, the Minister of Forests, or State forest land, shall be read, respectively, as a reference to the Director-General, a warranted officer, the Department, the Minister of Conservation, or a conservation area within the meaning of the Conservation Act 1987.

  Compare: 1956 No 6 s 2; 1967 No 143 s 2

  Section 2(1) activity: inserted, on 1 October 1999, by section 2(1) of the Wild Animal Control Amendment Act 1997 (1997 No 80).

  Section 2(1) aerodrome: amended, on 1 September 1990, pursuant to section 101(1) of the Civil Aviation Act 1990 (1990 No 98).

  Section 2(1) aircraft: amended, on 1 September 1990, pursuant to section 101(1) of the Civil Aviation Act 1990 (1990 No 98).

  Section 2(1) catchment authority: repealed, on 1 October 1997, by section 2(2) of the Wild Animal Control Amendment Act 1997 (1997 No 80).

  Section 2(1) concession: inserted, on 1 October 1999, by section 2(3) of the Wild Animal Control Amendment Act 1997 (1997 No 80).

  Section 2(1) Conservancy: repealed, on 1 April 1987, by section 65(1) of the Conservation Act 1987 (1987 No 65).

  Section 2(1) conservation management strategy: inserted, on 10 April 1990, by section 37 of the Conservation Law Reform Act 1990 (1990 No 31).

  Section 2(1) Conservator: repealed, on 1 April 1987, by section 65(1) of the Conservation Act 1987 (1987 No 65).

  Section 2(1) Department: inserted, 1 April 1987, by section 65(1) of the Conservation Act 1987 (1987 No 65).

  Section 2(1) Director-General: substituted, on 1 April 1987, by section 65(1) of the Conservation Act 1987 (1987 No 65).

  Section 2(1) firearm: amended, on 12 October 1982, by section 2(1) of the Wild Animal Control Amendment Act 1982 (1982 No 26).

  Section 2(1) Forest Officer: repealed, on 1 April 1987, by section 65(1) of the Conservation Act 1987 (1987 No 65).

  Section 2(1) Forest Service: repealed, on 1 April 1987, by section 65(1) of the Conservation Act 1987 (1987 No 65).

  Section 2(1) hunt or kill paragraph (e): added, on 1 October 1999, by section 2(4) of the Wild Animal Control Amendment Act 1997 (1997 No 80).

  Section 2(1) licence or permit: amended, on 1 April 1987, by section 65(1) of the Conservation Act 1987 (1987 No 65).

  Section 2(1) local authority: substituted, on 1 July 2003, by section 262 of the Local Government Act 2002 (2002 No 84).

  Section 2(1) Minister: substituted, on 1 April 1987, by section 11(1) of the State-Owned Enterprises Amendment Act 1987 (1987 No 117).

  Section 2(1) regional council: substituted, on 1 July 2003, by section 262 of the Local Government Act 2002 (2002 No 84).

  Section 2(1) regulated deer farm: inserted, on 25 November 1994, by section 2(1) of the Wild Animal Control Amendment Act 1994 (1994 No 114).

  Section 2(1) safari park: inserted, on 25 November 1994, by section 2(1) of the Wild Animal Control Amendment Act 1994 (1994 No 114).

  Section 2(1) warranted officer: inserted, on 1 April 1987, by section 65(1) of the Conservation Act 1987 (1987 No 65).

  Section 2(1) wild animal paragraph (a)(i): substituted, on 14 December 1979, by section 2(2) of the Wild Animal Control Amendment Act 1979 (1979 No 146).

  Section 2(1) wild animal paragraph (a)(ii): substituted, on 14 December 1979, by section 2(2) of the Wild Animal Control Amendment Act 1979 (1979 No 146).

  Section 2(1) wild animal paragraph (a)(ii): amended, on 1 October 1997, by section 2(6) of the Wild Animal Control Amendment Act 1997 (1997 No 80).

  Section 2(1) wild animal paragraph (a)(iii): substituted, on 25 November 1994, by section 2(2) of the Wild Animal Control Amendment Act 1994 (1994 No 114).

  Section 2(1) wild animal paragraph (a)(iii)(B): amended, on 7 May 1999, by section 2 of the Wild Animal Control Amendment Act 1999 (1999 No 52).

  Section 2(1) wild animal paragraph (c): amended, on 12 October 1982, by section 3(1) of the Wild Animal Control Amendment Act 1982 (1982 No 26).

  Section 2(1) wild animal recovery operation: added, on 1 October 1999, by section 2(7) of the Wild Animal Control Amendment Act 1997 (1997 No 80).

  Section 2(1) wild animal recovery service: repealed, on 1 October 1999, by section 2(7) of the Wild Animal Control Amendment Act 1997 (1997 No 80).

  Section 2(1) wild animal recovery service licence: repealed, on 1 October 1999, by section 2(7) of the Wild Animal Control Amendment Act 1997 (1997 No 80).

  Section 2(2): added, on 1 April 1987, by section 65(1) of the Conservation Act 1987 (1987 No 65).