Rat Bait Falls from Helicopter onto Kakapo Island

A potential disaster for the Kakapo is being dealt with swiftly to minimize any impact. Stuff.co.nz is reporting that 700 kilograms of bait laced with rat poison fell into a lake on remote Anchor Island in Fiordland.

An emergency cleanup operation is under way to protect the native parrots
[...]
Conservation Department Te Anau area manager Reg Kemper said the pellets could be fatal for kakapo if they ate about 20 of them, but he said it was unlikely the birds would do that. "It's designed so the rats take a pellet, then come back. It's not like cyanide."

More TV Specials, and Sad Kakapo News

Ever faithful reader David Haddock went to a recent talk by Mark Carwardine.

They hope to make "a few one hour Last Chance To See specials each year", and are off to Kenya soon to see how the Prague rhinos are getting on.

He also said that there are only 123 Kakapo as one was put down recently.

The Kakapo Recovery Programme website has more information on this sad news....
Old boy Sass farewelled

Sadly we euthanised one of our Stewart Island founder kakapo, Sass, yesterday. Sass had been of relatively poor condition for the last few years and has gone down hill steadily over the last 3 months.

He was extremely light weight, had developed cataracts in both eyes recently, and in the last few days appeared to have been suffering from kidney failure.
[...]
Sass's passing takes the world kakapo population to 123. He will be greatly missed, but his legacy lives on.

Last Hope To Restore Northern White Rhino

Via the Save The Rhino monthly newsletter we have a report at ETN on the progress of the Northern White Rhinos released this year in Kenya.

The Northern White Rhinos, donated by the Czech government in December of last year, have now started to roam freely on the Ol Pejeta Conservancy after being released from their smaller "bomas" into the wider area.
[...]
Richard Vigne, CEO of the Ol Pejeta Conservancy, has made it clear that they will be breeding hybrids for a while before sufficient numbers will then permit to cross them back towards nearly pure Northern White.