By ANNE BESTON
A lethal disease that threatens native parrots may have found its way to New Zealand through bird smuggling.
The disease, psittacine pox, was discovered in an Auckland aviary among rosellas which were being examined by a veterinarian.
Auckland Zoo wildlife disease expert Richard Jakob-Hoff said smuggling was one way
the virus could have got to New Zealand.
"We don't know how it got here and we're not saying the birds that carried the disease were smuggled, but we know the bird smuggling industry is a major one and lucrative," Mr Jakob-Hoff said.
He is investigating the possible transfer of psittacine pox to native parrots such as kaka, kakariki, kea and kakapo on behalf of the Department of Conservation.
Most of those species are tucked away on predator-free islands - kaka on Little Barrier Island, kakariki on Tiritiri Matangi Island and kakapo on remote Codfish Island, off the southern end of the South Island.
But the virus could travel swiftly through a previously unexposed parrot population.
Kea could be at risk because they live in mainland alpine areas, and some kaka are still found in the Waitakere Ranges near Auckland.
Mr Jakob-Hoff said
psittacine pox was just one of the wildlife health problems discovered over the past two years and the zoo was struggling under the demand for its services.
"The demand for our veterinary services from DoC, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and overseas just keeps on growing."
A major part of the zoo's work is running health checks on dozens of kiwi chicks raised in captivity before they are released into the wild. Eighteen months ago, that work turned up a previously unknown blood parasite that could have a big effect on the health of kiwi chicks.
"That one came as a bit of a surprise," said Mr Jakob-Hoff. "Just by looking we have found quite a lot of things that were previously unknown in wildlife."
New Zealand was becoming a world leader in wildlife health screening and the zoo was happy to carry out the work, but new facilities were urgently needed.
Mr Jakob-Hoff has drawn up a plan for a Wildlife Health and Research Centre at the zoo and has launched a fundraising effort to pay for the $3.5 million centre.
The goal is to have scientists from around the world share their research and to use the centre as a training facility for New Zealand vets.
Auckland Zoo
Department of Conservation
Further reading
nzherald.co.nz/environment
