Wildlife sanctuaries well prepared for bird flu

Plans to manage bird flu are well underway at native wildlife sanctuaries.

This week the H5 strain, which has been circulating globally, was detected in New Zealand for the first time in a single migratory brown skua found in the Wellington region.

Prior to the detection, the Department of Conservation had already started vaccinating core breeding populations of kākāpō, takahē, tchūriwat'/tūturuatu/shore plover, kakī/black stilt, and kākāriki karaka/orange-fronted parakeet, in an effort to protect some of the most endangered species from bird flu.

Jo Ledington, the general manager of conservation and restoration at Wellington wildlife sanctuary Zealandia, said they had been keeping an eye on the bird flu situation internationally and had plans in place for some time.

She said one of the first steps they have now taken was to stop feeding their kākā population.

The kākā had been effectively extinct in the Wellington area until it was reintroduced at Zealandia in 2002.

"Avian bird flu will be spread where birds congregate, and so for us, after 25 years, with the success of our kākā population, we've decided to stop supplementary feeding them."

"The Wellington kākā population is really strong. We've got good numbers and the risk of bird flu is higher than the risk of not supplementary feeding them anymore. So that's why we've made that decision," she said.

Ledington said feeding hygiene protocols had been increased for birds such as hihi/stitchbird.

Zealandia is also home to five takahē, and Ledington said her team are working with DOC to vaccinate some of them.

Further up the North Island in the Waikato is the country's largest ecosanctuary, Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari, which has both takahē and kākāpō.

Chief executive Helen Hughes said they were working with DOC and expected at least one of their two breeding pairs of takahē to be vaccinated, but their kākāpō, three males, were not initially expected to be among the vaccinated.

She said one species they were concerned about are kiwi. The sanctuary had around 3000 North Island Brown Kiwi, and was the largest translocator in the country.

However, she said it was early days, with most translocations occurring between February and May.

"So we've got an opportunity between now and then to make some decisions," she said.

Hughes said they'd been planning for the arrival of bird flu over the last 18 months.

"Whilst it's not a welcome arrival, it's not an unexpected one."

She said said signs were going up to advise people about bird flu and they were already equipped with PPE gear.

The sanctuary didn't have any seabirds so she was hopeful that would help reduce their risk initially.

However, unlike some of the other sanctuaries, Sanctuary Mountain is surrounded by farmland, which includes both chicken and ducks.

"We're just making sure that we're keeping in contact with landowners and ensuring that those relationships with community are really strong," she said.

"So if we're impacted, we'll let them know; if they're impacted, they'll let us know."