Kākā are more than just a beautiful sight in Wellington—they’re a success story for Zealandia, Aotearoa New Zealand, and conservation as a whole. It all started 25 years ago when Zealandia's fence went up and so did the hopes of bringing wildlife back to Wellington.

We know that you care about the native taonga of Aotearoa and so does Predator Free Wellington (PFW). We caught up with the PFW team about Phase 2 of their plan to remove rats, possums, weasels, and stoats from the city. They’ve learned a lot and wanted to share some special tips to help out your backyard or community trapping.

At Zealandia Te Māra a Tāne, we recommend planting trees to attract manu/birds to your backyard. Zealandia volunteer and local artist Melissa Boardman shares her experience with feeding and planting in her own backyard.

The focus of the 2024 translocation was to help secure the newly establishing population in the sanctuary and to allow us to practice using a mātauranga Māori collection method called whakaweku. 

A traditional mātauranga Māori method has been used successfully to collect freshwater fish in the latest translocation at Zealandia Te Māra a Tāne.

One hundred and thirty-nine toitoi/common bully (Gobiomorphus cotidianus) were collected from Kohangapiripiri in the Parangarahu Lakes area in late April and early May. 

Whakaweku, a traditional Māori catching method made from bundles of rārahu/bracken fern, was successfully trialled as one of the collection methods.  

Zealandia and mana whenua partners Taranaki Whānui ki te Ūpoko o te Ika have begun releasing the fish at the Wellington ecosanctuary after a period of quarantine. 

The 2024 collection of toitoi has now happened! A small team joined a group of Taranaki Whānui ki te Ūpoko o te Ika whānau on April 20th  to collect toitoi from Kohangapiripiri at Parangarahu Lakes. These ika/fish are now in quarantine at Zealandia for around four weeks to ensure they are nice and healthy before we release them into Roto Māhanga.

Recently a rainbow skink (Lampropholis delicata, also known as plague skinks) has been spotted in Glenside. You might remember our story earlier this year about these lizards which had yet to make their way to Wellington.  
 
We are asking that everyone – particularly those living or traveling in the areas where these skinks are known to be found – to be especially alert, and to please give your gear an extra thorough check before coming to the sanctuary.

As always, biosecurity checks of your bags at the biosecurity gate help keep Zealandia free of harmful species such as plague skinks.

This year we will carry out the second of three planned reintroductions of the freshwater fish species toitoi/common bully to Zealandia’s waters. 

Following years of hard work, wild kiwi have been released in Wellington. Capital Kiwi’s Founder and Project Lead, Paul Ward, updates us on how they’re going and the challenges they’ll face. 

In Aotearoa New Zealand, we have over 50 species of native freshwater fish and over 70% of them are threatened or at risk. Science communicator and Senior Communications Advisor, Gini explains how we can have an impact on the barriers freshwater species face.