Reintroduction of North Island kākā to Wellington, New Zealand’s capital city

Summary

North Island kaka (Nestor meridionalis septentrionalis), an Endangered forest parrot vulnerable to introduced stoats, cats and rats, had been effectively extinct around Wellington since the early 1900s. ZEALANDIA sanctuary, a 225-hectare valley just 2 km from the Wellington CBD enclosed by a 9-km predator-exclusion fence, offered a rare chance to restore the species within a major New Zealand city and test whether it could thrive in a highly populated landscape. Following extensive consultation with the Department of Conservation, local government and Māori, ZEALANDIA staff undertook four releases of individually banded, captive-bred juvenile kaka between 2002 and 2007, sourced from five zoos, totalling 14 founders (8 males, 5 females, 1 of unknown sex). Birds were quarantined, screened for Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease, then held in an on-site aviary to site-fix them before release, with supplementary feeders and nest boxes installed throughout the valley to support settlement and breeding. All birds from the first three releases were radio-tracked, and monitoring from 2003 to 2016 recorded 88% average survival of founders to breeding age, 79% of founders pairing and breeding, and the 800th banded chick in the 2016-17 season. Kaka have since spread beyond the sanctuary into Wellington's suburbs, prompting new management challenges around window strikes, vehicle collisions, inappropriate backyard feeding, lead poisoning and property damage, and the ZEALANDIA population has itself supplied birds for three further translocations to other sanctuaries. The project rates itself successful, citing effective predator exclusion, a captive-rearing translocation strategy informed by prior trials, natural immigration, and strong public engagement.