West Coast locals are "rattled" after a group of people removed what's believed to be 23 million-year-old whale fossils over the long weekend.
The cliff face at the Little Wanganui river north of Westport use to be home to what locals called the "monster in the rock" until three people took to the fossils with a rock saw across a two-day operation.
Tom Horncastle has lived near the river since 1956 and now has a holiday home that looks over the river mouth.
"Four generations of my family have been taken down and shown the 'monster in the rock'. It's quite a bloody great thing to take your kids and grandkids down [to]."
When Horncastle heard the noise of a saw going on Sunday morning he thought it was someone cutting firewood until a concerned local rang him.
"I got a call from someone on the beach saying there was a rock saw going on, cutting up rocks on the other side of the mouth and I knew what they were doing."
So Horncastle rushed down to the river in an attempt to stop the three people.
"I went down and spoke quite firmly to them across the river which was 25 meters and told them to leave it alone."
But Horncastle's plea fell short.
"They told me to basically go and shove off or come over and talk to them. So I went straight off and got me boat which is on the bank there and went over with two jokers who were with me."
The local told Newshub that once he came face to face with the group, he was met with aggression and a raft of explanations.
"They said they had all the permission from the Iwi. The other fella, he said he was a specialist in whale bones and did this all over New Zealand and that they would go to Te Papa, the museum in Wellington."
A Te Papa spokesperson told Newshub the museum isn't directly associated with the group of people, however, it's possible the group may have been in touch but the spokesperson couldn't confirm this.
"In situations like this, we would always encourage people to talk to iwi, to the local Council and to the Department of Conservation before collecting," they said.
"Private fossil collectors can play a valuable role in understanding New Zealand’s fossil record, and many do their collecting responsibly and with care and expertise."
Horncastle said following several attempts to stop the group in their tracks, there wasn't much else they could do.
"We sort of backed off because we didn't see any paperwork but we couldn't really do anymore because [one of them] was quite aggressive."
The Department of Conservation's (DoC) Buller acting operations manager Jacob Fleming said following calls to DoC a local ranger was briefed about the situation and attempted to prevent the removal.
"The ranger was told later that evening that the fossil had been removed," he said.
"The ranger spoke with multiple members of the community who were upset about the situation and what had occurred."
Fleming said the rock is located between the high and low tide mark so falls under the West Coast Regional Council's jurisdiction.
"Fossils fall under the Protected Objects Act 1975 which controls the export of these objects but does not control their collection/removal."
A West Coast Regional Council spokesperson told Newshub DoC and staff are assessing the available information and are "speaking to relevant parties including Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Waewae and Department of Conservation".
Horncastle just wants the fossils returned to where they came from.
"It's not right, 23 million years it's been there, what right have they got to take it out of your district."
He said he's a "rough sort of a bugger" who isn't worried about much but told Newshub "geez that's really got me rattled"
"It's a great thing to show people and shouldn't be touched."
Newshub has approached one of the men believed to be involved in the removal.
