Photo: 123rf.com
Dunedin police are investigating a wallaby being burned in a couch fire during student St Patrick's Day celebrations.
Police believed the wallaby had been dead for a period of time before being burned.
Senior Sergeant Anthony Bond told Checkpoint some students began drinking as early as 4am.
There had been four couch fires reported to police between 6am and 7am, Bond said.
"They're all dressed up in green, they're milling around the student area.
"During the day, there's no planned activities, or concerts, or venues - they are just milling around looking for things to do.
"And then there's a big, I guess, house party in the evening, which they all migrate towards."
Bond said students had done things like "six before six" which is drinking six alcohol beverages before 6am, "wine before nine", and a "goon before noon" as in a cask wine.
"It's a silly, stupid thing to do."
It had become an event for students outside of Otago to fly in or travel down for, Bond said.
"They get cheap flights. They can buy their alcohol from the bottle shop. So it's a cheap event for them.
"There's no entry fee. They eat whatever they feel like."
Bond also called for a ban on glass bottles to avoid further injuries.
"At some point, someone's going to be seriously injured with taking one to the head just through a reckless act of people throwing them into crowds."
University of Otago student services director Claire Gallop said St Patrick's Day festivities brought an influx of students from other tertiary institutions into Dunedin.
"Unfortunately, the issue of interlopers in North Dunedin during St Patrick's Day celebrations continues to be a significant concern and this year has proven no exception," she said.
"Some of the behaviour in North Dunedin is incredibly disappointing and it is unfortunate that the actions of a few individuals have led to the association of this behaviour with all University of Otago students.
"Until this weekend there had been no incidents involving couch fires in North Dunedin [this year], but following the influx of weekend visitors it is disappointing this changed."
Police said they were assisting Fire and Emergency (FENZ) in relation to couch fires in the Dunedin area.
They were advised that in one instance where a wallaby had been burned, it appeared the animal has been dead for a period of time beforehand, police said.
"Police are not aware of any animals being harmed relating to these incidents," police said.
Otago University Students' Association president Liam White said the wallaby burning incident was "extremely disappointing".
"It sucks that a couple of bad apples have ruined the image of St Patrick's Day at Otago. Normally it is not couch burnings and burning animals, it is normally just people having a couple of drinks, getting a bit silly, if they're even doing that at all," he said.
"The majority of students are pretty sensible and they're not going out with the intention of taking extreme action like this."
White believed the wallaby was likely brought to Dunedin by students from outside the city who had travelled there for the festivities.
"To actually find a wallaby in Dunedin would be extremely difficult, there are rumours of some over by Logan Park but I haven't heard anything for about ten years," he said.
"We get tons of students down [for St Patrick's Day] usually from Lincoln and Christchurch and we also get the odd one out from Balclutha way or the wider South Island.
"They're usually the ones that cause mess to be honest, not trying to pass the buck, but for Otago students normally we're pretty clean and tidy, despite our image.
"As far as I can tell, despite the very disappointing actions on Castle Street around the wallaby and the couch burning, Otago is actually improving its party image, most students are moving away from that party mindset."
Dunedin police said they were also aware of eight incidents where women were hit in the head by bottles thrown around the crowd during the festivities.
"They were either provided first aid at the scene by police or transported to hospital by ambulance," police said.
"Police are unaware of any concussions or serious injuries in relation to these incidents."
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