An old mate of the Hound, who lives in the bushy fringe of Auckland, has had similar problems. His application to subdivide his small bush block into two sections was met with a condition: he had to pay a herpetologist (a lizard expert, nothing to do with nasty diseases) to come and count all the native geckos on his property. If the population density exceeded a certain level, he would be required to relocate them all.