The Moa.

The moa is a large flightless bird native to NZ that is thought to be extinct. People think that it had already become extinct about 200 years ago.

Sightings.
Even though, there still have been many moa sightings by people in the NZ bush.
Lots of people thought they saw moa in the bush during the early 1800s. These people were often in the bush clearing land to use for farms. Or they were searching for gold down by streams.
One time a man even thought he saw a moa when his sheep dog tried to chase it. The dog was barking at a large bird and the bird bobbed it’s head at the dog like it was trying to scare it away.
Between 1931 and 1990 there were several sightings of moa in NZ bush and sometimes even tracks were found.
In 1993, 3 trampers saw a moa by a stream. It got a fright and ran away. One of the men called Paddy Freaney chased after the moa and even got a photo of it running away. He also found tracks in the mud. He showed this photo to scientists and they thought it really did look like an actual moa and it was no joke. But some other people did not believe it looked like a moa.

Then in 1994 another tramper found tracks that looked like moa tracks in the exact same place.

Could they still exist?
Most people believe that the most is now extinct. That is was hunted by the maori and when Europeans arrived the bird numbers would have dropped even more. There are lots of other NZ birds who are also considered extinct and they have never been found again. No one has managed to capture a bird or get a really good close up photo to prove that it really is a moa.

However, the takahe was thought to be extinct for a long time until some were found in a South Island swamp. So birds can stay hidden for a long time.There is a huge area of rugged native bush in the South Island were humans never ever go into. This would be a perfect place for moa to still be hiding and to never be found. Even to this day.

To find out more about the Moa, try this website:

http://nzcryptozoologist0.tripod.com/id14.html