Residents of Millwater, north of Auckland, have woken up to heartbreaking news this morning, after some of the suburb's beloved geese were run over.

Stacey Campbell, who lives across the road, was woken up by her upset daughter early this morning who told her the geese were dead.

"I headed down to take them off the road and discovered there were nine dead," she told the Herald.

According to Campbell, a neighbour saw a car deliberately hitting the geese just before 5am.

"We had heard a bang about that time and the geese honking but hadn't thought much about it until we saw the bodies," she said.

"I couldn't leave them there so picked up the bodies and put them in the bags. Neighbours are looking through CCTV to try and see who did it but so far can see a white van but not the number plate.

Among the dead bodies and the mess of feathers spread along the road, Campbell spotted some of the 10 goslings that the family and other neighbours had watched grow up. "I have photos of them when they were tiny," she said.

Campbell says the geese are beloved in the community and the incident has broken many hearts.

"There are signs around telling people to watch out for the wildlife. They leave a mess but are generally well liked," she said.

"I was crying all morning as were several of the other neighbours who came out while I was picking them up. My daughter was disgusted someone would do that."

 

The incident shocked the local community. Photo / NZ Herald

 

Campbell says the car ran over the geese "on purpose, for sure".

"How could you manage to accidentally hit and kill nine of them and the bodies were over a 100 metre distance. And the vehicle was speeding," she added.

The local suspects there are only four geese left now. She has reported the incident to police and neighbours are still looking through security footage to try to find the culprit.

On the local Facebook group, multiple people expressed how upset they were to see that happen in their community, with some saying the geese have been around for several years.

"That makes me so angry! I too enjoy seeing those geese and often stop to let them cross the street. I hope the car that killed them is damaged," one person commented.

"Must be stuffed up in the head to do something like that," another local said.