Guardian to geckos, skinks

Queen's Service Medal to Dennis Keall

SIMON EDWARDS/Hutt News

LIZARD HOTELS: Dennis Keall QSM, in the Wainuiomata back yard he's converted to skink and gecko sanctuary.

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Wainuiomata man Dennis Keall already has a Kaitiakitanga ('Guardianship') Conservation Award for his four decades of work with our native geckos and skinks.  Now he'll be able to place a Queen's Service Medal alongside it.

From a hobby collecting lizards when he was a teenager, his practical knowledge - and collection of the reptiles - has steadily grown to a point where it is near unrivalled in the nation.

Dennis' citation in the Queen's Birthday Honours list notes: "His work is self-funded and he breeds skinks and geckos in cages and then repopulates colonies, mostly in predator-free offshore islands.  The 11 known Whitakers skinks in New Zealand are all under Dennis' care.

"He has also conducted research and acquired invaluable knowledge on the behaviour and habitat requirements of rare New Zealand lizards.  He regularly mentors young herpetologists and assists conservation agencies with local and national species recovery programmes, and makes his captive collection easily accessible for education and to raise awareness of these animals."

When the Hutt News spoke to Dennis for an extended feature story in August last year, he described his efforts as an attempt to "buy more time" for our rare skinks and geckos.  Through man's alteration of their habitat, and most particularly because of the mammal predators we have introduced, many of our native lizard species are in big trouble.

At this time, it's all quiet in the dozen of so gecko/skink 'hotels' that dot the Keall's back yard as the creatures largely stopped eating a month ago and "battened down for winter".  That gives Dennis respite from having to catch fresh moths for them to eat.

But in the wild, winter is a "very dangerous time for them".    Before man and mammals like cats, dogs, pigs, rats, and mustelids, the lizards' primary defences - camouflage and not moving - were reasonably effective.  Nocturnal ones are "not very quick - never had to be," Dennis says.  They had the run of the leaf litter because their predators were all asleep.

Now, as they tuck up somewhere for winter, "if they're sniffed out (by a mammal), they're history".

But Dennis says there are signs at last that we're getting into gear to mount protection operations, just as we have for our endangered native birds.  DoC staff running an active recovery programme in central Otago have recently picked up from fragmented populations six pairs each of rare Grand and Otago skinks.   A couple of pairs of each have been turned over to  Dennis' care.

DoC and university researchers will analyse the genetics of these wild skinks, as well as those in captivity, to "glean clues" as to how we might help their survival.  The genetic analysis may point to best breeding mixes, for example, and as that's Dennis' speciality, he's bound to be involved.

He's delighted that lizard protection efforts are "getting a bit of momentum", but as with anything, "with more money, more people, the more you can do".

He says he'll be involved with skinks and geckos as long as he can, "but we're all mortal, eh?".  His own challenge is to develop a "succession plan", to hand over his collection and knowledge before he dies.  While his son Lance helps out whenever Dennis goes on holiday, he needs someone keen enough to eventually take over fully.  "Trouble is, all the serious 'keepers' started out before 1980 (the date that restrictions were brought it to stop geckos/skinks from being taken from the wild)," he says.

"I guess that's just part of the challenge."

Typical of this conservation hero and his modesty about his role, Dennis seems genuinely "amazed my name even came up (for a medal)".