Pop superstar Taylor Swift has angered Auckland beachgoers who say she put a rare native bird at risk when filming her latest music video at a west coast beach.
The 25-year-old popstar was photographed filming her new music video at Auckland's Bethells Beach earlier this week, where it is alleged the Shake It Off singer and her production team breached their permit of two vehicles, by bringing up to 12 vehicles on to the beach.
The beach is home to endangered baby dotterels.
Waitakere Ranges local board chairwoman Sandra Coney posted on Facebook yesterday alleging Swift broke the conditions of her filming permit, and voicing her concerns for the endangered coastal bird.
"Taylor Swift filming at Bethells this week. Permission was given for I think two vehicles, instead there were about a dozen. Parks not happy at all," she said.
"We are trying to minimise vehicles on beaches for good reasons but at Bethells there are baby dotterels. We have developed a dotterel management plan as there is a heap of filming out there, and we welcome it as economic activity that should leave no footprint, but Taylor's lot did not respect the environment or the conditions of their consent."
Waitakere Ranges local board member Neil Henderson said the news was "disturbing" as there were only about 10 dotterels at any one time at the beach.
"The numbers aren't large by any means," he said. "People needed to stick to the rules," Mr Henderson said, regardless of how famous they were.
"The west coast is a very beautiful place, but we have to minimise the impact. Once we lose the birds they don't come back in a hurry. If one person gets away with that, then others think, 'why can't we?'," he said.
He hoped it was a case of misunderstanding, but said the set guidelines were "pretty clear".
Michael Brook, of Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (Ateed), confirmed a permit was issued at Bethells Beach for Monday for between 9am to 7pm. The permit had special conditions that only allowed two essential vehicles to be on the beach.
The production crew was also warned to "stay alert for baby dotterels", he said. Mr Brook could not confirm how many vehicles had turned up to the beach that day, nor if the film crew had breached any of the special conditions. NZME