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class="content__text" We're so pleased to announce that 13 juvenile whio/blue duck are now riding river rapids in Arthur’s Pass National Park, after being helicoptered to their new home last week. The ducks were raised by The Isaac Conservation and Wildlife Trust and all of them came from three captive pairs held at Orana Wildlife Park and Willowbank Wildlife Reserve in Christchurch, as well as from Kiwi Park Queenstown. These captive pairs are amazing. Not only have they been very successful in producing ducklings for this release into the wild, they have given us over 100 juveniles over the past five years! With this success we’ve been able to extend the whio recovery sites in Arthur’s Pass and release juveniles there as well as into the Central Southern Alps security site focused around the Styx-Arahura-Taipo valleys near Hokitika. Read more here: https://bit.ly/3Roulrb The recent floods and damage up north is a striking reminder to the affects of climate change, that inevitably impact not only us but our taonga species too. An event like this, around whio habitat, would be devastating, displacing whio who rely on healthy river and stream system to survive and thrive and severely knocking back our progress with this species. Our thoughts are with all of those who are impacted by the flooding and damage in the northern parts of Aotearoa.

February 06, 2023