A UFO has fallen into the mountains. There is a black cat at the front door. Someone wants something done about possum droppings. Another person is worried about a supposed MMA fight between a human and a chimpanzee.
None of those questions went to the police, a veterinary clinic or a television station. They ended up with New Zealand’s Department of Conservation, better known as DOC.
On September 14, 2026, DOC published a selection of unusual inquiries received by its customer service team. During the 12 months ending August 31, 2026, the agency handled 42,637 phone calls and 22,394 emails. Of those calls, 2,977 were classified as unrelated to DOC’s work.
That means only about 7% of the calls were actually off-topic. So no, New Zealanders were not making 42,000 bizarre phone calls to a conservation agency. Still, the examples raise an obvious question: why does one government department end up hearing about everything from wildlife to UFOs?