Another search for kakapo

Press, 24 March 1977, Page 20

Another search for kakapo

(Wellington reporter) Another party will go to Stewart Island in July and August to try to define the limits and extent of the kakapo population discovered there two months ago. The Wildlife Service hoped to obtain information as to numbers; and it was intended to send another expedition next summer as well, said the service’s fauna conservation officer (Mr D. V. Merton). Kakapo should continue to be regarded as rare and endangered, and its conservation remain the highest priority. “The absence of stoats, ferrets, and weasels from Stewart Island may well be a factor which has enabled kakapo to survive there but not elsewhere on the New Zealand mainland,” Mr Merton said. A policy of minimum disturbance of kakapo on Stewart Island had been proposed, with the long-term object of safeguarding the species in its existing habitat and conducting the minimum amount of research and management necessary to achieve this end.

“Probably the most pressing management need is the control of deer numbers, by means other than poisoning,” Mr Merton said.

Between 16 and 17 per cent of Stewart Island’s deer population was found in the region east of the Tin Range between Toitoi Flat and Port Pegasus where the kakapo were, according to Forest Service reports. Although they ranged throughout the area, the deer apparently favoured the more openforested coastal belt.

“Until kakapo distribution on Stewart Island has been more thoroughly defined, all deer and opossum poisoning on the island should stop, as kakapo are partial to carrots,” said Mr Merton. “We have chosen to go in in midwinter because that is the period of the lowest rainfall in the area.”