Domestic cats in Kaikōura are laying waste to the eggs of a rare shore bird.
With only 18,000 of them remaining, the Banded Dotterel is classed as nationally vulnerable.
That status is not being helped at Kaikoura's South Bay, where so far this breeding season 17 of the 22 nests spotted have either been destroyed, abandoned by the parents, or the eggs eaten. 
Rachel Graham reports.