Kakapo grounded by mystery illness

OUT FOR THE COUNT: Ten-year-old Rakiura will have to stay at Auckland Zoo until a new release date is set. A mystery illness has kept a kakapo grounded and prevented her from being released along with fellow parrots on pest-free Little Barrier Island.

Ten-year-old Rakiura was meant to be freed with seven other kakapo on Saturday, but a disease, which has caused lesions on the bird's backside, mean it will remain at the Auckland Zoo vet centre until a new release date is set.

The birds were released on Little Barrier, where they will remain for at least a decade, to see if they can survive without human help.

Vet Anna Le Souef said Rakiura's ailment - technically around a combined urinary, intestinal and reproductive tract called the cloaca - is a mystery disease, and biopsies have been taken from the bird for analysis.

"We've seen it before in kakapo and we don't know what causes it but she's got a fairly mild case."

It's not known if the skin irritation is contagious but Le Souef believes the bird, captured on Codfish Island, will return to full health.

"Apart from those little lesions around her bottom she's a very healthy bird, she's in good condition and there's nothing else.

"When we catch her up she's fairly feisty, but then she's quite calm, so she's a good bird to treat.

"She's started pecking at her food so we don't think she's overly stressed."

The zoo has also done what they can to make her first stay in captivity a comfortable one.

"She's been kept in a room that we've put all sorts of natural objects in, so logs and bits and pieces of trees she likes and some hiding places because they tend to be very secretive birds.

"She's been in isolation to keep her safe from anything any other birds might have."

At 10-years-old Le Souef said Rakiura is thought to be relatively young for a large parrot species, although little is known about the average lifespan of a kakapo.

She said the lesions should have little impact on the bird's ability to produce chicks.

"She's had quite a few chicks before, she's quite a good breeding bird and there's no reason it should."

Department of Conservation workers will transport Rakiura to Little Barrier when she is ready, and she'll be monitored by radio tracker.

Kakapo lived on Little Barrier Island between 1982 and 1999, when they were moved so the island could be cleared of rats.

By 1995 only 50 kakapo were known to exist nationwide but today there are 126 kakapo being managed by DOC on Whenua Hou/Codfish Island, near Stewart Island, and Anchor Island, in Fiordland.