New Zealand's organization Forest & Bird takes their Bird of the Year (Te Manu Rongonui o Te Tau) competition seriously. When voter fraud was detected in the online poll to crown the winner, the organizers went to work immediately. In just two hours, 1500 votes for the the little spotted kiwi (kiwi pukupuku) came from the same email address.
The illegitimate votes briefly pushed the kiwi pukupuku to the top of the preferred bird leaderboard, but the votes have since been removed from the competition.
“It's lucky we spotted this little kiwi trying to sneak in an extra 1500 votes under the cover of darkness!” says Laura Keown spokesperson for Bird of the Year.
Emma Rawson, campaign manager for the little spotted kiwi disavowed the fraudulent rush of votes, saying, "Voter fraud is not the kiwi way." After the votes were counted (and discounted), the critically endangered kākāpō emerged as the winner. Still, they are all good birds. -via Mashable
(Image credit: Flickr user Jake Osborne)