Reintroduction Of Wekas In Peninsula Believed Feasible

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29754, 22 February 1962, Page 26

Reintroduction Of Wekas In Peninsula Believed Feasible

It would be feasible and desirable to reintroduce wekas to the ChristchurchBanks Peninsula area, according to spokesmen for most interested groups yesterday; but the chairman of the game committee of the North Canterbury Acclimatisation Society (Mr G. Mugford), said he feared a release of wekas might have a deleterious effect on game birds. Mr D. C. Morse, secretary of the Arthur’s Pass National Park Board, which has just released eight pairs of wekas in the park, considered the release of wekas near Christchurch a good idea. The weka is a flightless bird about the size and shape of a common fowl. Wekas were plentiful in most parts of North Canterbury and Banks Peninsula until about 1917, after which they disappeared completely from almost all districts within a few years. The only recent report of wekas was when three were seen five years ago in the upper Hoon Hay valley. It is thought that these may have perished in a gorse fire which burnt out the area soon afterwards. Whether they were introduced clandestinely from another area or were survivors from the original population is not known. Wekas from Banks Peninsula were introduced in 1905 to the Chatham Islands, where they are so numerous as to be regarded by some as a pest, and, according to Mr Morse, as a source of food. When being secured for shipment to the mainland, they have to be paid for at broiler rates, he says. They are said to be commonly salted anl stored in fat much as muttonbirds are, a thousand or so being taken in a few days. Buff Weka If the weka were to be reintroduced into Canterbury, the source would almost certainly be the Chathams, since the race of wekas on the islands is different from those in other parts of New Zealand, and is classed by Dr.

W. R. B. Oliver as a separate species. It is a lighter brown, and for this reason is known as the buff weka. The other South Island weka is relatively common in Buller, north-west Nelson, and Fiordland. The North Island weka is another race of the western weka of the South Island. It is most frequent round Gisborne, where it has become something of a pest in suburban gardens after being reintroduced there some years ago. There is a distinct race of the northern and western weka in Stewart Island.

The controller of the wildlife Division of the Department of Internal Affairs (Mr F. L. Newcombe) said that the division was prepared to look into any proposal for the reintroduction of the weka to the ChristchurchBanks Peninsula area, but that a full investigation would be essential before a release was made. The division’s authority was needed for shipping the birds out of the Chathams and again for releasing them, in Canterbury. An attempt was being made by the division to restock areas of the North Island with the northern weka, and success ted been achieved on a small island off Great Barrier and probably on Mokoia in Lake Rotorua. It was not certain yet whether releases in places on the mainland ted been successful. The director of the Christchurch City Council parks and reserves (Mr H. G. Gilpin) said that he would like to see wekas again in the Christchurch area, but did not think that they would stay in city parks. He thought that the council's reserves on the Port Hills, such as Kennedy’s Bush, might be suitable places to release them. Virus Disease? The senior zoologist of the Animal Ecology Division, Department of Scientific and

Industrial Research, said that it might now be possible to reintroduce wekas to areas where they had become extinct, as the conditions which

had destroyed them might no longer exist. There was a suggestion that the chief cause of the destruction of the wekas ted been an outbreak of a virus disease.

Mr W. J. Harris, a member of the council of the Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand, thought wekas were unlikely to be reintroduced successfully in settled farming districts because of farm dogs, which were the birds’ greatest enemy. Areas where rabbits, teres, and opossums were under heavy attack were also unsuitable, since wekas got caught in traps, picked up poisoned baits, or ate the carcases of poisoned animals. An attempt some years ago to reintroduce wekas in the Weka Pass district ted been unsuccessful, probably for these reasons. One of the causes of the disappearance of the weka 40 years ago could have been an abundance of a certain type of tick which attacked the head and neck of the bird.

Nevertheless, the society was ‘‘definitely interested” in backing any move to bring back the weka to the Christchurch-Peninsula area. An essential condition of a successful release seemed to be to get the enthusiasm of landowners in the district, so that they would keep an eye on the birds and try to prevent their accidental destruction.

Mr Morse thought the, original disappearance of the weka could have been partly due to rabbit extermination campaigns immediately after World War I. He thought that the reintroduction of the birds to Canterbury "would not be a bit artificial.” because they were natives of the province. The wekas would have to be paid for in the Chathams, and their carriage paid to Lyttelton, but volunteers would probably be easily found to release the birds. Various people had subscribed to the cost of the birds released in the Arthur’s Pass National Park.

Mr Mugford said that the last time the release of wekas ted been discussed by the Acclimatisation Society’s game committee, the committee had been perturbed over the possible effect on pheasants, as the wekas were “tigers on eggs.” It was not much use stocking the countryside with game birds and then releasing something else that would go against them, he said. Banks Peninsula was a good area for pheasants.

“The membership of the game committee has changed somewhat, though, since wekas last came up for discussion, and the balance of opinion may have changed,” Mr Mugford said. "I shall ask what they think when we have our next meeting.”