Whanganui’s Virginia Lake bird aviary faces closure after report

Some exotic species listed in the aviary's inventory couldn't be found by the reviewer. Photo / Bevan Conley

Rotokawau Virginia Lake’s bird aviary faces closure after a less-than-glowing review by an independent zoologist.

Dr Lorne Roberts’ report says information provided by aviary staff was “deficient in much of the detail that would be expected in a modern best-practice facility”.

Closing the aviary is one option being considered in the council’s annual plan, which goes out for public consultation next week.

“The inventory provided was not of a professional standard and clearly not recorded on a regular basis,” Roberts said.

“In fact, the only record provided was of an animal count made on [February 1].”

Roberts is the vice president of the Auckland Zoological Society and the academic programme manager of Unitech’s school of environmental and animal sciences.

Council chief executive David Langford told the council’s strategy and policy committee that it would be hard to find anyone more qualified than Roberts to do the review.

Langford was responsible for the management of Brooklands Zoo during his time at New Plymouth City Council.

“For me, the report is pretty comprehensive and very clear that the current operations of the aviary are not up to even minimum good practice, never mind best practice,” he said.

“One of the main issues for me is that the aviary as a structure is not fit for purpose and not big enough for the numbers of birds that we currently house.”

Whanganui District Council chief executive David Langford has experience in zoo management. Photo / Bevan Conley

Langford said Roberts wasn’t able to find all the exotic species listed in the aviary’s inventory.

That suggested there had been escapes, potentially causing biosecurity issues.

“From a resourcing point of view, the aviary is not staffed to meet basic animal welfare standards and feeding practice is not up to standard because the animals are only fed once in the morning,” Langford said.

“It can’t be confirmed that each of the animals is getting adequately fed.

“The concern is some of them are overfeeding at the expense of other animals in the enclosure.”

Another issue was the absence of enrichment activities for the birds.

“As a result, there are clear behaviours symptomatic of animals in distress,” Langford said.

According to the report, during the time the birds were observed, the finches and the cockatoos seemed “unengaged and lethargic” and the galahs seemed to be quite restricted in movement.

One of the cockatoos was “possibly nearly 70 years of age”.

The Whanganui community can give feedback on the future of the aviary during the annual plan consultation period - April 3 to April 30.

Options are to invest to address animal welfare standards only, invest to maximise the use of the aviary while addressing animal welfare standards or close it.

Despite council officers recommending it be shut down, committee members decided the first option would be the one it supported.

Bringing the aviary up to standard could cost up to $500,000. Photo / Bevan Conley

The estimated cost for a full revamp is up to $500,000.

Langford said that figure was taken from an aviary replacement in New Plymouth City Council’s long-term plan, benchmarked against Hamilton Zoo’s aviary replacement.

The report states that apart from lorikeet food, it was not clear what food was provided for what species, and there were no feed quantities related to the known numbers of birds.

No cleaning products, other than mention of the possible use of “soapy water”, were detailed, nor were any systems of best practice.

Council senior parks manager Wendy Bainbridge said staffing at the aviary had been the same for 20 years - part-timers working four hours per day.

“We have in recent months started to provide more entertainment or enrichment as it’s called, and we have had discussions about two small enclosures that don’t have enough natural light.

“We will probably remove birds from those enclosures.”

Councillor Charlie Anderson asked if birds with “mental health issues” could recover.

Bainbridge said she had spoken to Roberts about that issue.

“I would make the point that some of these birds were given to us and have been single pets in a cage, so potentially, they had issues before they arrived.

“There is very little you can do to change it.”

Councillor Michael Law said the report stated the facility was structurally sound and most of the faults found were operational.

“It seems like the council has wanted to get rid of the aviary every couple of years yet the public scream out,” he said.

“I’ve had over 125 different people so far, in 12 hours, and 90 per cent of those want to keep it but don’t want to spend $500,000.”

Councillors will consider feedback and make a final decision on the future of the aviary, which was built in the 1970s, at the annual plan deliberations on May 30.