John Hicking, whose family regularly feeds the eels at Maygrove Lake, watched on as his neighbours hacked five eels to death.

A north Auckland man whose family enjoys feeding the eels at a small lake was horrified to witness his neighbours hacking the eels to pieces.

John Hicking and his children regularly wander down to Maygrove Lake, near their home in Orewa, to feed the eels bacon and fish-food.

On the morning of October 27, while he was making a cup of tea, Hicking was met with a "horrifying" sight as he gazed through his kitchen window.

He witnessed a group of neighbours pulling a net out of the lake with around five eels, which they proceeded to hack to pieces with an axe or spade.

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Upon approaching them, Hicking was appalled to see pieces of the eels were still moving.

Caroline Williams Thea and Lewi Hicking treat the eels at Maygrove Lake to bacon and fishfood.

"The cut sections were still writhing around, it was pretty horrible."

When asked by Hicking if they were going to eat the eels, the neighbours said they were culling the eels, because they had been eating duck's feet and ducklings.

"I'm sure a big eel would have a go at a duck or duckling, but that's nature. I think it's such a shame to kill the eels for no good reason."

Caroline Williams John Hicking and his children Thea, 8, and Lewi, 13, were saddened that eels from a lake near their house were hacked to death by their neighbours.

Hicking decided not to tell his 8-year-old daughter, Thea, about how the eels came to die, but she was upset to hear the eels had been harmed.

"I think they're adorable. It feels nice [feeding the eels], because they probably eat little fish and other stuff and it's probably a treat for them."

Hicking's neighbours, John and Marie Walding, two of the three neighbours involved in the culling, said they didn't kill the eels just for the sake of it.

Caroline Williams John and Marie Walding, treasurer and chairwoman of the Maygrove Residents Association, say residents are concerned the eels are eating all the ducklings.

The Waldings, who were chairwoman and treasurer of the Maygrove Residents Association, said they were acting upon residents' concerns over a lack of ducklings in the area.

"People were complaining that they were seeing ducklings swimming, next thing they were being taken under the water and eaten. There's only one thing that can do that, isn't there?

"There are no ducklings. They are not surviving. The eels just chew their feet off, you see them hobbling around."

The third neighbour involved in the culling, who didn't wish to be identified, confirmed a spade was used to kill the eels. However, it was just a matter of controlling the number of eels.

"The ducklings are the thing the kids come and watch. There's maybe four or five one day, the next day there's one."

Meeting minutes from the Maygrove Residents Association annual general meeting suggested residents requested for a watercare company to be approached for a quote to reduce the eels.

The Waldings were quoted $480 plus GST by a professional to have the eels removed. However, after loan of an eel trap was offered, they decided to save Maygrove residents some money and do it themselves.

In hindsight, if they knew Hicking's children would be upset over the execution, they would have relocated the eels instead, John said.

"The way we did it was wrong. We are not cruel people. I didn't enjoy what I was doing and, in hindsight, we shouldn't have killed them. We would have been better to just relocate them," John said.

Caroline Williams Thea thinks the eels, which are quite tame, are "adorable".

Auckland Council senior regional freshwater advisor Matthew Bloxham admitted, while it may be upsetting to witness ducklings being killed by eels, it was a natural occurrence.

Further, the eels were likely to be the threatened long fin variety, while mallard ducks were so common as to be considered a nuisance in parts of the country.

Both short and long fin eels were native, found in the area, and long fin eels were indigenous, threatened and in decline. "For an eel to take a duckling, it was likely a long fin eel."

Caroline Williams The Hicking family were saddened to see eels near their Orewa house being hacked to death.

In urban freshwater environments, ducklings represented a vital source of animal protein.

The council had an informal agreement with the Maygrove Residents Association to maintain the lake and the group volunteered their time with regular working bees.

It was an offence to destroy animals living in reserves under section 94 of the Reserves Act. Moving native fish required a permit from the Department of Conservation and the Ministry for Primary Industries.

The council's parks department had been in contact with the residents association to advise against culling the eels.

National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) freshwater scientist Dr Phil Jellyman confirmed eels can pose a threat to ducks and ducklings, and could eat ducks' feet.

Regarding the eels being chopped to pieces, Jellyman said the movement would have been caused by muscle spasms during death.