GoPro - used as tiger's chew toy - sold for a whopping $455 in charity auction

Tuesday, 9 August 2016

Our GoPro was no match for Molek, left, one of Auckland Zoo's three sumatran tigers.

Stuff's mangled camera - used as a tiger's chew toy - has sold for a whopping $455 on Trade Me, and will be given back to the zoo as a display.

All profits from the auction will go to Auckland Zoo's conservation fund for 21st Century Tiger - an organisation fighting to bring the critically endangered Sumatran tigers back from the brink of extinction.

The GoPro Hero 3+ lived up to its heroic name when it sustained irreparable damage when placed in the tiger enclosure for a story at Auckland Zoo.

Molek, the zoo's 18 year-old female sumatran tiger, ripped apart the camera's protective casing and turned the $700 device into shrapnel.

* International Tiger Day celebrated at Auckland Zoo

* It was a good day at work - until a tiger ate the GoPro**

Making the best of a bad situation, we decided to see if one man's junk could really be another man's treasure in an online auction, with the proceeds going to the zoo's tiger conservation fund.

But the cracked lens, pierced metal shell and snapped memory card wasn't the only prize punters were bidding on.

To sweeten the deal, Auckland Zoo also offered an exclusive four-person tiger meet-and-greet for the winner.

The group will get an exclusive look into the daily life of the zoo's sumatran tigers, as well as one-on-one time with the keepers who work with the cats on a daily basis.

The week-long auction attracted 9500 viewers, 83 offers and came down to an exciting bid-war between Ryan, from Manukau, and Wayne, from Auckland city.

Wayne Leech placed the winning bid of $455 in the nick of time and came away victorious.

'We are very excited to have won the crunched Go Pro … it is my idea is to have it mounted, framed and donated back to the zoo for display,' he said.

'I really think it will be a great talking point at the zoo as to me it signifies the power, strength, danger and respect we must have for tigers, as well as its total disrespect it has for our technology.

'To a tiger, it's a couple of crunches on an unappetising piece of alloy, but to us it's the latest and greatest that our tech-driven society has to offer.'

Leech, a fan of the zoo's conservation efforts, was in the process of arranging a date to come in and have the 'tiger meet and greet', when he could present the zoo with the display.

'I hope the zoo will accept and find an appropriate place to display this wonderful piece, of what has now become zoo history.'

Auckland Zoo's conservation fund co-ordinator Peter Fraser said the money raised in the auction could go towards putting a camera in the wild to monitor tiger populations.

'All donations … really do make a difference. This money could buy a new monitoring camera to help 21st Century Tiger's Tiger Conservation Protection Units (TCPUs) keep track of wild tiger populations and any poaching activities.

'It's also particularly good timing to send some positive news to the 21st Century Tiger team who just last week had a key TCPU member, a good friend to tigers in the forest, die suddenly. We know they'll really appreciate it,' Fraser said.