Warning: This story may be distressing for some readers. 

Poisoned sparrows seen struggling outside an Auckland bakery have prompted a furious response from animal lovers, but the bakery says the birds are pests and risk contaminating food. 

Auckland woman Mimi Kelly was visiting the Point Chevalier branch of Auckland’s Daily Bread bakery chain on Tuesday when she saw sparrows outside the business looking “very unwell”. 

Kelly told the Herald that the small birds appeared poisoned, were struggling to hop about and being targeted by seagulls. 

She claims a staff member told her the birds had been deliberately poisoned because the business had a health inspection due soon. 

The bakery owner has defended the controlled cull, saying the birds pose a potential health risk and maintaining health and safety standards is the number one priority for his business and customers. 

Kelly recorded video of the birds and her encounter with another member of staff, who denied being involved with poisoning the birds but admitted they did appear to have been poisoned. 

She contacted the SPCA, which came to collect some of the animals. 

When Kelly emailed Daily Bread for answers, she received a response telling her that sparrows were pests and posed a health risk. 

“We have had in-depth conversations with our pest control company and they (as well as the Department of Conservation’s research) deem sparrows & pigeons as pests that have been introduced into NZ,” the response read. 

“The pests are non-native, meaning they are the most detrimental non-native bird species for our native biodiversity that we know, love and cherish.” 

The email said the birds also “risk the contamination of food, ingredients that we have stored in our venues and the general venue space where our guests dine”. 

The birds built large nests which could also pose a fire hazard and spread bird lice, “so we deem removing them from our venue a positive solution for the safety of our customers”. 

“We are continuing to work closely with pest control to find more humane ways of deterring the pests from our venues, as many other Auckland businesses are having issues with. If you did have any suggestions, we are completely open to hearing them.” 

Kelly posted the videos online, where people expressed shock. Kelly said she shared that distress and was devastated when she learned the poisoning was deliberate, saying it was “hard to fathom that someone would be so cruel”. 

Asked how different this poisoning was to targeting other pests such as rats, Kelly said “everybody loves sparrows” and labelled the birds “poor wee innocent souls”. 

She said there were other ways Daily Bread could have handled the situation. 

A poisoned sparrow outside the Daily Bread bakery in Pt Chevalier. 

Daily Bread founder Josh Helm said contracting a third party to perform the pest removal was a “last resort” and done under strict guidelines and outside business hours. 

It was incorrect to say the poisoning was done directly before a health inspection, Helm said. 

Contractors carried out the controlled poisoning two weeks ago, well before the health inspection, which was carried out earlier today. He added that the struggling birds had been found in a public car park, which was shared by other businesses. 

Helm acknowledged that the consequences of birds being on site during an inspection could be severe and it was common practice in the hospitality industry to use third-party pest controllers. 

His business received an A Grade following today’s inspection, but had a bird been seen inside, it would have received a D grade. 

He said the top priority was “maintaining a high health and safety standard” and he stressed that the pest removal was done in a humane manner. 

The SPCA said it had received a complaint relating to the incident and was investigating. 

“As such, no further comment relating to these claims can be made at this stage.” 

Chris Marriner is an Auckland-based journalist covering trending news and social media. He joined the Herald in 2003 and previously worked in the Herald’s visual team.