Kakapo say farewell to city adventure

BARRY HARCOURT/Southland Times

PRETTY POLLY: Two of the 26 kakapo chicks hand-reared in Invercargill this year after rimu fruit on Codfish Island (Whenua Hou), west of Stewart Island, failed to ripen. All the chicks have now been returned to the island.

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All the kakapo chicks brought to Invercargill three months ago have now returned home to Codfish Island (Whenua Hou).

The chicks were hand-raised in Invercargill because enough rimu fruit had ripened on the island, but the last four were ferried back to the island yesterday morning.

Kakapo recovery team leader Deidre Vercoe said the 90-day-old chicks would spend up to six weeks in temporary outdoor pens while they weaned off the hand-rearing food and on to natural vegetation.

Each would then be fitted with a tracking transmitter and slowly introduced into the wild in small groups around the island.

Getting the chicks home safely was a major relief for the recovery team, which worked around-the-clock for three months to secure the chicks' survival, Ms Vercoe said.

The hugely successful breeding season of 2009 brings the critically endangered kakapo population to 124.

- © Fairfax NZ News