A petition to keep funding for the Virginia Lake aviary has gathered about 600 signatures thanks to a 9-year-old boy who convinced his schoolmates to take action.
Jack Johnson saw a story in the Chronicle about the aviary and took a clipping into his class at St Johns Hill School and explained it to the rest of the children, who teacher Jan Pickett said were "horrified".
"He was really distraught," she said.
Wanganui District Council was deliberating whether or not to withdraw funding for the aviary after cutting $35,000 from its 2014/15 budget.
Ms Pickett's class had a discussion about what could be done for the aviary, ruling out fundraising as it would not be sustainable, and writing letters because it would only be from a small group of children.