Esperance-3B-19, Ihi-3B-19 and Kuihi-1B-19 arrived at our Auckland Zoo Vet Hospital two weeks ago to be assessed for the fungal disease aspergillosis.

After arriving in Auckland each bird received a full health check from our vet team, including CT scans. These thorough checks confirmed each bird was disease-free which meant they could board an Air New Zealand flight home to Whenua Hou this morning.

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These juvenile kākāpō are no longer classed as chicks as they all reached 150 days of age earlier this year, the age at which they transition from being considered chicks to being juveniles and counting towards the official population. Many of our vet team and bird keepers were there on the island to help our partners Kākāpō Recovery hand-raise these hatching birds, so we’re ecstatic that they’re heading home.

We are now caring for 5 kākāpō on site (2 adults and 3 juvenile birds). We’ll keep you posted on their progress!