We have some more great kākāpō news! One of the five kākāpō that still remain with us, Hinemoa-2-A-19 is returning home today after his recent stay at our Vet Hospital receiving treatment for an infection.

You may remember that zoo vet Melanie was on Anchor Island earlier this year with our partners Kākāpō Recovery and was able to carefully assist Hinemoa-2-A-19 in hatching out of his shell. This was because his wing was abnormally stuck to the inside walls, making it impossible to hatch by himself! That she was able to help him then on island, and again with necessary treatment during the course of his stay with us has been pretty special, and today – she’s seeing him off to the airport.

https://cdn.aucklandunlimited.com/zoo/assets/media/hinemoa-2-a-gallery-2.jpg

Hinemoa-2-A-19 will return to the island via VIP flight with our friends at Air New Zealand to Invercargill, before hopping on a helicopter to Whenua Hou to be reintroduced to island life by the Kākāpō Recovery team.

He’s had a long road to recovery, initially being assessed for aspergillosis in May and determined to be free of the disease he returned to island in June. At the end of September, he returned to us for further assessment due to weight loss and was treated for an enteritis (intestinal) infection that responded well to treatment. Now he’s gaining weight well and is 1.8kgs so he will be returned to his whānau and given time to re-adapt to island life, and we’ll continue to look after the four kākāpō (2 juveniles and 2 adults) that remain in our care.

You can read more about when Hinemoa-2-A-19 first hatched in our story with Melanie here.