A spike in prosecutions for illegal homekill has prompted officials to warn people not to sell homekill on social media.
Photo: RNZ/Carol Stiles
Information released to Radio New Zealand showed seven people were prosecuted in 2017, compared to one the year before.
And 44 sales of homekill on Facebook were reported to the Ministry for Primary Industries last year, 30 more than 2016.
Selling homekill is illegal, with fines of up to $75,000 for individuals and $300,000 for businesses.
Ministry for Primary Industries director of compliance Gary Orr said many people were not aware of the regulations and prosecution was the last resort.
The ministry reminded people of their responsibilities before taking the final step of prosecuting.
At the end of last year, Ruapehu District Council issued a warning about buying homekill on social media.
That warning followed the case of a Putaruru family who got sick after eating wild boar that was given to them.
A professional homekill operator said it was irresponsible to on sell meat online.
Garth has provided homekill to farmers for five years in the Maketu area in the Bay of Plenty.
His procedure was to visit the farmer's property and kill the animal in a clean area, before putting it straight into the freezer, which he said was the safest way to do it.
People who bought homekill online would have no way of confirming how the meat was prepared or killed, he said.
