Taonga seized at NZ border sparks outcry

A Māori doctoral student came home to New Zealand from Munich and was told to take off his rei mako, a pair of traditional shark-tooth earrings, at the border. Tanith Wirihana Te Waitohioterangi said the order felt like “a stripping of mana,” and the earrings were only returned about 10 minutes later after another officer reconsidered. (rnz.co.nz) He had already declared the taonga on arrival. He said he complied after more than 30 hours of travel because he did not want to risk arrest by refusing to hand them over. (rnz.co.nz) The earrings were not tourist souvenirs. RNZ reported they were made using traditional methods by tohunga whakairo Tiopira Rauna Jr from gifted mako shark teeth with particular significance in Tūranga, and Te Waitohioterangi said they carry his mana and whakapapa. (rnz.co.nz) The trip itself makes the airport scene harder to ignore. He had been in Germany working with Munich’s Museum of Five Continents on Māori taonga, including a pou tokomanawa, a carved central post from a meeting house, taken from his iwi in the 1890s. (rnz.co.nz, newswire.co.nz) That museum is currently running an exhibition called “He Toi Ora” from October 17, 2025 to May 10, 2026, built around Māori works in its collection and the question of where those works came from. Its own exhibition material says many carvings are understood as living connections to ancestors and that descendants should be able to renew that connection. (museum-fuenf-kontinente.de, museen-in-bayern.de) The legal trigger was not invented on the spot. Newswire reported that border staff identified the mako teeth as a restricted item under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, the treaty that controls cross-border trade in parts from protected animals. (newswire.co.nz) But the same report said there is an exemption for taonga of New Zealand origin carried by a New Zealand resident. A chief quarantine officer later decided that exemption applied, which is why the earrings were handed back within minutes. (newswire.co.nz) The Ministry for Primary Industries apologised afterward. Biosecurity New Zealand Commissioner for the North Mike Inglis said officers had correctly spotted a restricted material, but the agency would clarify its process for passengers carrying taonga and other culturally significant items. (newswire.co.nz, rnz.co.nz) This sits inside a wider problem New Zealand’s own travel advice already acknowledges. SafeTravel warns Māori travellers that taonga made with bone, feathers, shells, or similar materials can trigger Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species rules, and it specifically says items worn or carried can be seized by customs or security officials. (safetravel.govt.nz) The same guidance tells travellers to check rules country by country and even suggests packing taonga in checked baggage rather than wearing them. That advice is aimed at overseas borders, but this case happened on arrival back in Aotearoa, where the traveller, the item, and the cultural context were all local. (safetravel.govt.nz, rnz.co.nz) Te Waitohioterangi told RNZ the problem was not one staff member but “a very flawed process.” The sharpest contrast in the story is that he had just been helping a German museum reckon with Māori ancestors and stolen taonga, then landed at home and watched a New Zealand system treat his own taonga like a problem object first and a living cultural item second. (rnz.co.nz, newswire.co.nz)