Five kākā venture into new Mt Bruce home

Five young kākā have ventured out into a new home in Wairarapa's Mt Bruce Forest as part of a national trial to re-establish mainland populations of the threatened species. Three captive birds from Auckland Zoo and two from the National Wildlife Centre at Mt Bruce, near Masterton, were released yesterday. It is hoped they will join eight kākā successfully released last year. It has been nearly 50 years since this native parrot was seen in the Mt Bruce forest.

A National Wildlife Centre spokesman said the kākā would carry radio transmitters on their backs. "A particular aim of the research is to find out how birds raised by their natural parents fare in comparison to hand-raised birds." Four of the last year's kākā had been hand-reared and had coped well. The recently released birds had been raised by their parents. Kākā were once common throughout the country's forests but fell foul of predators. Today the population was less than 5 percent of the original numbers – about 10,000