Recently I have been looking after some abandoned/orphaned ducklings, and, while trying to figure out what kind of duck they were, I stumbled upon the dilemma of the critically endangered Grey Duck.  

The Grey Duck is a native New Zealand duck that can easily be mistaken for the common female Mallard (which is introduced). It is on the critically endangered list along with the more commonly known Black Robin, Kākāpō, and the Takahē.

Though the bird is few in number, it is still allowed to be shot for game. This is probably because occasionally Mallards and the Grey Duck interbreed creating common hybrids, and it can be hard to distinguish between the female Mallards and the Grey Duck.

New Zealand's native birds are finding it hard to survive with loss of safe nesting grounds, competition from introduced species, and predators.  Any chance to help stop the loss of another precious native species should not be overlooked.

The goal of this petition is to get enough people interested to sway the powers that be (Fish and Game New Zealand, or the Department of Conservation) to make the Grey Duck a protected species and to be taken off the permitted-to-hunt game list, or to at least lower the amount of Grey Ducks allowed to be hunted per person.

If nothing is done about the Grey Ducks dilemma, their numbers will fall even further and another species may be lost because of mankind. 

Supporting evidence:
http://www.doc.govt.nz/nature/valuing-nature/threatened-species-categories/threatened-birds/

http://hunting.fishandgame.org.nz/content/ducks

http://nzbirdsonline.org.nz/species/grey-duck

http://terranature.org/duckGrey.htm