Scientist say bug killing kakapo new to the species

1.00pm

Scientists at Massey University say the bacteria killing kakapo is new to the endangered species, and may not have been brought from the main kakapo refuge on Codfish Island, 4km northwest of Stewart Island.

They have narrowed the bacteria which killed three two-year-old juvenile kakapo -- Aroha, Vollie, and Aurora -- down to one of two types, both new to kakapo.

And the Department of Conservation announced today the symptoms of illness seen in three dying birds on Chalky Island, 2km off the southern Fiordland coast, were now thought to be different from two birds Palmer-San and Pearl, which fell ill on Codfish, before the transfer earlier this month of 19 birds to Chalky.

Environment Minister Chris Carter said yesterday that the illness on Chalky Island appeared to have originated from Codfish Island, where Palmer-San and Pearl fell ill and were successfully treated with antibiotics.

But conservation workers said today that differences in the symptoms now suggested that "this is not a disease that was spread from Codfish to Chalky".

Massey University veterinarians today confirmed that erysipelas - a skin disease caused by bacteria - was found in the first dead bird from Chalky.

It is found in the soil and is transferable between birds. It also affects dogs, dolphins and lambs and is often fatal in young animals. Tissue sections found high levels of the bacteria in the liver and spleen of the bird, leading to a quick death.

Erysilpelas can be tested for in the faeces and is treatable with antibiotics. Postmortem and tests on the second dead bird arriving later today should confirm the diagnosis, a spokeswoman for Massey said.

"This rules out moving birds from Chalky back to Codfish for treatment," a DOC spokesman said.

Previously, it had been suggested some of the birds could be taken back to Codfish to have two separate quarantined populations.

This will leave most of the kakapo recovery programme's eggs in one basket -- the birds transferred to Chalky Island make up much of the 39 per cent boost in the kakapo population recorded two years ago when 24 chicks were born.

The chicks lifted the population of the world's rarest and heaviest parrot from just 62 birds to 86 during the 2002 hatching.

Now 10 DOC staff on Chalky are building plywood pens for each bird on the island to isolate each bird. It could take two days to build the pens.

And veterinarians are considering whether an antibiotic treatment can be developed that can be administered once a day instead of twice.

Once a day would open up the possibility of care in the field for some or many birds. If twice a day, all birds would need to be "hospitalised" in the pens as a precautionary measure.

A DOC spokesman said a Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry veterinarian, Gary Horner, had offered his services full time to help out with the kakapo crisis.

- NZPA