Last white swan at Whanganui’s Rotokawau Virginia Lake rehomed in Manawatū

A white swan on the lake in 2017.

The last white swan remaining at Rotokawau Virginia Lake has been rehomed to Mangahuia Wetlands in Rangiwahia, northern Manawatū.

Whanganui District Council’s general manager of community property and places, Sarah O’Hagan, said white swan numbers at the lake had declined over time due to natural attrition.

“Because these birds pair for life, we’ve chosen to rehome the last swan for its own welfare and wellbeing,” O’Hagan said.

Michael Bourke, a Queen’s Service Medal recipient for services to wildlife conservation, will rehome the swan at the wetlands reserve on his family’s farm at Rangiwahia,

Unpaired male swans already live there and it is hoped Virginia Lake’s female can pair up and mate.

Bourke said he intended to gift a new pair of white swans back to Rotokawau Virginia Lake and hoped they would remain and establish a new population for the Whanganui community to admire and enjoy.

The species is also referred to as a mute swan (Cygnus olor) and in te reo, wāna.

White swans that lived at Rotokawau Virginia Lake were semi-feral and originated from captive birds gifted by the Virginia Lake Trust in the late 1990s.