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Documenting the battle to guard New Zealand’s endangered birds

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Documenting the battle to guard New Zealand’s endangered birds


Rangers getting down to set up stoat traps within the Kea Basin, New Zealand

Robin Hammond/Panos Footage

Throughout New Zealand, an enormous conservation effort is below strategy to wipe out invasive species and allow numerous native and endangered birds to rebound.

Field specialists from The Capital Kiwi Project inspect kiwi recently released into the hills around Wellington. Kiwi have not roamed these hills for many generations. Predation from introduced predators, primarily stoats, have devastated kiwi populations throughout New Zealand. After the laying of 4,561 traps over 23,455 hectares, and years of work, on 19 November 2022, 11 kiwi were released into the wild on the south coast of Wellington. These inspections are the first since their release.

The bottom-dwelling kiwi

Robin Hammond/Panos Footage

The nation’s Predator Free 2050 venture, documented right here by photographer Robin Hammond, has the daring intention to utterly eradicate three species launched to the island nation by people: rats, stoats and possums. These have decimated populations of birds, such because the ground-dwelling kiwi (pictured above). The work includes controversial aerial drops of sodium fluoroacetate poison to focus on the mammals, along with setting traps (important picture).

Steven Cox, 27, is a Biodiversity Ranger for New Zealand's Department of Conservation in the Tongariro District in the central north island. The Biodiversity Team members control pest species and manage threatened indigenous species, including the North Island Brown Kiwi. Much of Steven's job involves trapping non-native predators. On this day he is releasing young kiwi. The Tongariro Forrest Kiwi Sanctuary is bordered by the Whakapapa and the Whanganui Rivers. The Department of Conservation led research site has been tasked to establish the minimum effective application amount and frequency of 1080 for North Island Brown Kiwi survival. 1080 is a toxic bate that targets rats and possums. It is aerially applied across Tongariro Forrest as a method to increase kiwi chick survival. Stoats, the main predator of kiwi chics, ingest the 1080 toxin through rats. In addition to the poison, ferret traps are laid to protect adult kiwi survival. According to the Tongariro Forrest Kiwi Sanctuary 2021/22 Annual Report, without management, the kiwi population would be locally extinct in 15 - 20 years.

Biodiversity Ranger Steven Cox releasing a younger kiwi

Robin Hammond/Panos Footage

“It’s conservation by means of killing. Like, mass killing,” says Hammond. “It’s type of a grim selection. However doing nothing has a consequence, and that might be the lack of these [bird] species.”

Efforts to boost kiwi and different birds in captivity till they’re sufficiently big to face an opportunity towards these mammals are additionally below method (pictured above).

Department of Conservation staff and local Iwi elders representing 'Ngai Tahu Whanau Whanui Ki Murihiku' release 10 takahe birds, who have been bred at The Burwood Takahe Breeding Centre, or come from sanctuaries, into Top McKenzie in the Murchison Mountains. They join a resident population of 220-240 birds in the Murchison Mountains. Until 1948 takahe were thought to be extinct. When they were rediscovered in the Murchison Mountains, it is estimated that there were less than 200 birds left. The Burwood Takahe Breeding Centre was purpose built in 1985 as an incubation and hand rearing facility. They have successfully raised and released hundreds of takahe. Continued predation, especially by stoats, means that without the continued breed and release program, takahe would soon become extinct in the wild on mainland New Zealand. The long-term goal of The Burwood Takahe Breeding Centre is to establish permanent and sustainable takahe populations on the New Zealand mainland.

Workers launch takahē birds

Robin Hammond/Panos Footage

A kiwi egg laid within the wild has a 5 per cent probability of constructing it to maturity. However grownup birds, such because the flightless takahē (pictured above and under), have a far increased probability of survival.

Department of Conservation staff perform a final health check and attach transmitters on to the backs of takahe before releasing them into the wild. These 10 birds, who have been bred at The Burwood Takahe Breeding Centre, or come from sanctuaries, will be joining a resident population of 220-240 birds in the Murchison Mountains in Fiordland National Park. Until 1948 takahe were thought to be extinct. When they were rediscovered in the Murchison Mountains, it is estimated that there were less than 200 birds left.

Performing a ultimate well being test and attaching transmitters on to the again of a takahē fowl

Robin Hammond/Panos Footage

 

A stuffed Auckland Island merganser (Mergus australis). This waterfowl was a capable diver that chased fish. It became extinct due to human hunting, possible predation by Pacific rats, and predation by Norway rats, dogs, cats and pigs. The last live record of the bird was on 09 January 1902. Many of New Zealand's native animals have been lost since people arrived. Over a period of 750 years New Zealand's vertebrate fauna has been nearly halved, and there have been uncounted losses of populations and species of invertebrates.

A stuffed Auckland Island merganser (Mergus australis).

Robin Hammond/Panos Footage

It’s already too late for some birds, such because the Auckland Island merganser (pictured above), relegated to a museum exhibit since vanishing in 1902. However Hammond says that the efforts are paying off for those who stay, and he now sees populations of native birds like by no means earlier than. “I see flocks of birds flying round Wellington, which I by no means even knew existed as a child,” he says. “And you may hear the fowl tune, which wasn’t there earlier than.”

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