Council to fund facility for Kakapo chicks

Invercargill could soon be claiming the title “Kakapo Capital of the World”.

The Invercargill City Council has agreed to fund a purpose-built Kakapo chick-raising facility at the Southland Museum, which will be operated by the Department of Conservation’s Kakapo Recovery Programme and open to the public.

The deal, at a cost of $425,000, was brokered by first-term councillor Karen Arnold, who also works as an advocate for the Kakapo Recovery programme, which is based in the city.

“The idea to have Kakapo at the Museum is not a new one and has been discussed at different levels before. But since I have the benefit of understanding the perspectives of both parties, it was a simply a case of getting the right people together to discuss the idea and progress plans quickly.”

Presentations to both the City Council and Southland Museum and Art Gallery Trust Board were met with unanimous and enthusiastic support, she said.

“At the moment, when Kakapo chicks have to be brought from Whenua Hou/Codfish Island to Invercargill for hand-raising, it’s done at a secret location and in makeshift conditions in a converted storeroom.

“With the proposed chick-raising unit, Invercargill will be the only city in the world to showcase the development of Kakapo chicks. We also plan to have a 400sqm outdoor enclosure where the birds, as they get older, will learn how to climb and forage for food.”

Once they were old enough, the chicks would be flown back to Whenua Hou/Codfish Island where they would be released into the wild.

The Kakapo is listed as a critically endangered species, with a total of 126 birds, all living in the wild. The main breeding population is on Whenua Hou/Codfish Island, off Stewart Island.

Manager Communications and Secretarial Services, Eirwen Harris, 211 1678, (027) 293 8680 Communications Advisor, Andrei Robertson, 211 1601, (027) 231 3939 Kakapo Recovery manager Deidre Vercoe-Scott said the City Council’s support was a win-win for everyone.

“We will have a purpose-built unit that will give our team a place to raise these precious chicks in an environment we haven’t enjoyed before and we’ll have a place to showcase the important conservation work that we do”

Because Kakapo don’t breed every year, the Kakapo Chick Unit will be part of a bigger Kakapo Recovery display, which will tell the unique Southland story of the efforts that have been made to bring the species back from the brink of extinction.

The Council also agreed to an annual $50,000 donation to the programme if its current major sponsor - New Zealand Aluminium Smelters Ltd – withdraws its support at the end of 2015, which the company has signalled it may do.

The Council and Kakapo Recovery will now develop a Heads of Agreement, with the unit expected to be completed in time for an anticipated breeding season in 2016.

ENDS.

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