Case file · Cryptid
Craigieburn moa sighting
In January 1993 hotel owner Paddy Freaney and two companions said they saw and photographed a living moa in the Craigieburn Range near Arthur's Pass.
1993 CE · -43.15, 171.60 · status: claim
The account
The blurry photograph made headlines and prompted searches by enthusiasts. Moa, giant flightless birds, were hunted to extinction by about 1445 according to radiocarbon studies.
The sceptical view
The Department of Conservation found nothing; experts judged the photo to show a red deer or another animal, and some suspected a hoax to promote the hotel.
Connections in the atlas
- Pouakai and Haast's eagle
- Pouākai, the man-eating bird
- Rediscovery of the takahē