Wild Heroes returns with action-packed fourth series!

Wild Heroes, the inspiring wildlife documentary about Auckland Zoo is returning with an exciting fourth series to Three (7pm) and ThreeNow on Sunday 26 April.

From performing life-saving surgery on critically ill sea turtles to rearing precious kākāpō chicks on a remote sanctuary island, Wild Heroes follows our dedicated zookeeping and veterinary teams as they care for animals in the Zoo and undertake vital conservation mahi with our partners across Aotearoa. And this season – also into the Pacific!   

“Wild Heroes is all about giving audiences an intimate inside view into the Zoo, bringing them on journeys with us to some extraordinary wild places, and lifting the lid on what it means to be an excellent modern zoo,” says Magnetic Pictures co-founder and Wild Heroes director and producer Juanita Edwards.

“As viewers will discover across this season’s 10 action-packed episodes, the Zoo works with partners local and global. Its mahi in native species recovery and conservation research projects along with zoo-based breeding and advocacy programmes, highlights the Zoo’s expertise in veterinary care and intensive animal management – skills critical to the recovery of threatened species in the wild.”

In Episode One, viewers see vets undertake life-saving surgery on a green sea turtle patient with a rare condition - intussusception (tangled intestines - and yes, it’s as icky as it sounds!). And the Zoo’s Head of Animal Care and Conservation and herpetologist Richard Gibson is in the Pacific Islands to support vital work to help secure the future of the remarkable Fijian crested iguana.

In Episode Two, Wild Heroes shares the journey and tough decision to euthanise elderly male Southern white rhinoceros Zambezi – an exceptional father and contributor to the regional breeding and advocacy programme. And in a remarkable end-of-an-era achievement, the Zoo releases the final few hundred (of more than 8000!) wētāpunga bred at the Zoo and released onto sanctuary islands as part of the culmination of a hugely successful recovery programme for this unique giant of the insect world.

Further into the series, Zoo veterinary staff travel to remote Pukenui/Anchor Island in Te Waipounamu/the South Island to support Department of Conservation Kākāpō Recovery team colleagues with their biggest ever kākāpō breeding season! With only 83 breeding-aged females on the planet, this nocturnal endemic parrot is one of the world’s most intensively managed species, and it is high stakes and high skills required as some chicks fall sick in the wild.

Lovers of our taonga species can also look forward to must-watch stories on efforts for precious tara iti/NZ fairy tern, kōrorā /little penguin, kiwi, toroa/albatross, pekapeka/long-tailed bat, rare mokomoko/skinks, and our endemic pepeketua/Hamilton’s frog.

Additionally, there’s an exciting Trans-Tasman megafauna move that highlights how good modern zoos work together as part of important international breeding and advocacy programmes for threatened species.

Auckland Zoo director Kevin Buley says: “Whether you’ve been following Wild Heroes since that very first episode back in 2023, or you’re tuning in for the first time, this fourth season makes for compelling viewing. Even though I already know how every story ends, there are still moments - especially the wildlife rescue cases - where the suspense of will they or won’t they make it is almost too much to bear.

“One of the real strengths of this programme is the close working relationship we’ve developed with Magnetic Pictures over these four seasons. They’ve captured our work with a level of authenticity and care that gives viewers a genuinely unique window into what our teams do every day - here at the Zoo and out in the wild.

“As Zoo Director, what hits me most watching this latest season is an immense sense of pride. Pride in our people, and pride in the difference they’re making for wildlife and for people across Aotearoa. And it’s something all of us - as Aucklanders and as New Zealanders - can feel proud of too. We’re incredibly fortunate to have such dedicated people, not just here at the Zoo, but also in DOC, across iwi, and throughout all our partner organisations, all working tirelessly, often against the odds, to protect these taonga for generations to come.”