What’s been happening in Waikato: Local news in brief

The first batch of 11 kiwi from Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari moved to The Capital Kiwi Project in Wellington this week. Photo / Danielle Zollickhofer

Kiwi numbers

The first batch of 11 kiwi from Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari moved to The Capital Kiwi Project in Wellington this week. The move is part of the annual kiwi translocation happening now until the end of April.

Pest control

Conservation efforts are amping up in the Pureora Forest Park. A newly formed group of volunteers called Pikiariki Restoration has set up a network of self-resetting A24 rat traps close to Pureora village. They also plan to monitor stoat, possum and feral cat numbers through trail cameras and the long-tailed bat population through a new acoustic recorder method. Also, the Pureora Hunting Competition will open on March 15 and focus on deer.

Whitianga Festival

The Whitianga Oceans Festival has been cancelled this year. The committee cited a decline in ticket sales across the New Zealand event industry and in the Oceans Festival itself last year. They intend to run the event again next year.

Winter Games

Waikato snowboarder Jarrod Gilbert travelled to Italy this week to compete at the Special Olympics World Winter Games. He is among nine New Zealand athletes who joined more than 1500 athletes and 1000 support staff from over 100 countries in Turin. The competition starts on March 11.

Boxing match postponed

Lani Daniels’s IBF World Light Heavyweight title defence against Nailini Helu will take place on May 3 at the National Equestrian Centre in Taupō. Originally, the event was set to take place at the Taupō Events Centre on April 5, then it was postponed to May 10 because the venue was under construction and would not be ready for the event. Now, event promoter Nigel Elliott was informed that the venue would not be ready in time for the May event, hence, the venue change.

Fieldays CEO

The New Zealand National Fieldays Society has appointed Richard Lindroos as its chief executive, following Peter Nation’s resignation last year. Lindroos brings event management experience with FIFA, IMG and Supercars to the role which he will start on April 7.