Kakapo Chick Has Died

A couple of recent posts over at the Kakapo Recovery Programme website have the sad news that one of 2008's chicks "Mokopuna" has died, and that all efforts continue on rearing the remaining 6 chicks. By my calculations that puts us down to 91 kakapo.

Mokopuna dies

Firstly her weight started to plateau, and then she became lethargic and resistant to feeding. The attention of vets and experts, and loads of time and energy from the team tending to her and administering medication didn't prevent her death. It would appear that she died from an infection in her lung - something that would have killed her much sooner in the wild.

Watching the changes

After the loss of "Mokopuna" attention has been fully focused on the remaining six chicks, and the ups and downs have continued. Raising chicks in captivity means trying to replicate what would happen in the wild as closely as possible, in order to fledge a healthy chick.
Unfortunately, us humans are never gonna be as good at it as mum kakapo so we always run into problems, and inevitably each season different health issues arise. At present there are three birds in the sick bay recovering from minor unexplained ailments. We've had constant advice from our vets at Auckland Zoo