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Download AudioEfforts to re-establish Takahē in Te Waipounamu have taken a crucial step forward with the release of nine breeding pairs on to Ngāi Tahu’s Greenstone Station north of Queenstown.
It’s estimated about 500 of the large flighless birds are now living wild after releases in Fiordland’s Murchison Mountains and in Kahurangi National Park in Nelson.
Tūmai Cassidy from Ōtākou Rūnaka says it’s hoped the Greenstone Valley will become the third successful recovery site.
“We haven’t had takahe on our whenua for a number of generations. The takahe and many of our other taonga were part of the reason why our people were attracted to those areas; the reason why they were able to live and sustain themselves,” he says.
Mr Cassidy says pest control efforts on the station have been successful- but there may need to be a cull in future of goats and deer, which eat the same food.
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