A Motueka man who confronted a tourist defecating on the side of the road says the town is "absolutely sick of freedom campers".
Local resident Pacey Grooby says he was on his way home on Friday when he saw the man with pants around his ankles, so he approached him and started filming.
"What are you doing mate?" he asks the tourist.
"Just sh*tting," the tourist replies.
Grooby said the town and community are fed up with freedom camper behaviour.
"They fully accommodate every park or reserve there is and leave there [sic] rubbish behind," he said in a message to Newshub on Saturday.
Fed up, Grooby shared the footage to his Facebook page. He told Newshub on Sunday the tourist has since been caught and fined $400.
The Tasman District Council has been contacted for comment but Motueka community board member Brent Maru said only a minority of people partake in such behaviour.
"If people stand up, and ring and complain, then [the] council can enforce," Maru told Stuff.
"The message we're sending is that if you come to this beautiful part of the country, there has to be an expectation that you're willing to pay something, and there are cheap options in camping grounds where there are toilets."
It's not the first time angry residents have confronted tourists doing their business. In May 2018, Kaikoura resident Dave Lyon confronted a tourist and filmed him while he was relieving himself at the beach.
"The past summer has been like a nightmare to live in - like a freedom camping nightmare," his wife Cezanne Lyons told Newshub at the time.
In February of that year, a resident of Aoraki/Mt Cook photographed a visitor defecating beside his driveway, Stuff reported.
"I saw him go across our driveway and said 'I'm not having this'," the unnamed resident said.
"He was in defence mode and said it was all perfectly natural," the resident told The Timaru Herald.
