Here’s a link to the article:
Kayakers who ignored warnings refuse to pay rescue bill – National – NZ Herald News.

In summary, these two kayakers ventured out into treacherous waters after being warned not to. On one hand, that’s how you live your life to the fullest. On the other hand, it’s how you become a burden on society. Should these guys be charged for their own rescue?

The cost of most land or water search and rescue in New Zealand tends to fall on taxpayers, with ACC often paying out.

In some cases, organisations send bills to people such as the two kayakers, who are now arguing that their rescue from the swollen Shotover River near Queenstown was not necessary.

There seems to be some kind of threshold of fault that decides whether or not we think they should be charged. If they were completely innocent we would rescue them for free, but we are not going to bail them out at our own expense if they were just being intentionally stupid. The reality is probably somewhere in between – so maybe they should be charged the partial rescue cost?

Another solution for future rescues would be to announce over a PA system from the helicopter, “We’ve decided that your perilous situation is a result of your own stupidity and/or recklessness. Would you like to purchase rescue services for $4,000?” Ok, just kidding. That’s terribly impractical. The best opportunity for sarcasm comes when the rescued kayakers claim the rescue was not necessary. Yes, you seemed to have everything under control with your broken finger and missing kayak.

But then again, I wasn’t there, so what do I know? And sometimes a little stupidity does pay off with some fabulous life experience. And sometimes it doesn’t…

Mr Smith said the bottom line was that “even stupid people deserve to be rescued”.

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