Exciting News! Three more kākāpō are flying home today!

Alice-3-A, Pearl-2-B and Awarua-3-A arrived at our Auckland Zoo Vet Hospital as chicks in early-mid May this year. This is when the outbreak of the fungal disease aspergillosis was at its most critical point and our vet team, our vet colleagues and our amazing partners at Kākāpō Recovery were trying to mitigate and understand the threat to this precious species.

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Awarua-3-A came to us after being identified as an at-risk chick, she had spent most of her life in foster mum Ihi’s nest and her nest mate Queenie-4-A had died of aspergillosis. Initial blood tests revealed severe blood changes and subsequent CT (X-ray) scans revealed a sizeable granuloma (a mass of tissue, typically produced in response to infection) near one of her arteries. Thankfully with care and treatment this granuloma has reduced over time and now Awarua-3-A is completely cleared of disease!  She is a super curious and adventurous chick who is always interested in what the care team is up to and we are sure will enjoy having a whole island to explore!

Pearl-2-B was born on Whenua Hou and is particularly special as she was the first chick to hatch from the second clutch of eggs. She spent the first few weeks/months of her life with Hoki, before being re-nested with her second surrogate mum Pounamu. This was the time when Hoki was sick with aspergillosis, which identified Pearl-2-B as being high risk. Our vet team noted weight changes and CT scans in May showed findings suggestive of aspergillosis but after months of treatment – she is now completely disease free! Pearl-2-B was a very lovely to chick to have in hospital hardly every grumbled even when the team were having to do treatments with her.

Perhaps the most at-risk and sick kākāpō chick that our team treated, Alice-3-A had a granuloma completely obstructing one of her bronchi, meaning that one of her lungs was blocked off. This poor chick found it so difficult to breathe the team were worried that her airway may become completely obstructed. Thankfully Alice-3-A has made an amazing recovery.

Auckland Zoo

Perhaps the most at-risk and sick kākāpō chick that our team treated, Alice-3-A arrived with a high white blood cell count (indicative of fighting an infection) and CT scans showed she a granuloma completely obstructing one of her bronchi, meaning that one of her lungs was blocked off, this again was consistent with aspergillosis. This poor chick found it so difficult to breathe the team were worried that her airway may become completely obstructed. Thankfully with the use of nebulisers in combination with oral antifungals, antibiotics and anti-inflammatories Alice-3-A has made an amazing recovery. She was also a very sweet bird, very tolerant of all the treatment and procedures she had to undergo though she was not afraid to tell the team off when they would get her out of her nestbox where she was resting.

Caring for wildlife this endangered – and with historical data to compare this with very scarce – the research and hard mahi of our vet team and colleagues has been rewarded, which isn’t always the case with animals this young and so sick. Now these three young kākāpō are disease free they are heading to their protected island home of Whenua Hou today with VIP treatment from the Air New Zealand crew!

We’re now caring for four kākāpō (2 adults and 2 chicks) which means the wonderful efforts of our vet team are truly paying off. We will keep you posted on their progress in the coming weeks.