Chatham Island Tāiko

WMIL, in association with the Chatham Island Tāiko Trust and local landowners, has been contracted by the Department of Conservation (DOC) to undertake the management of the critically endangered Chatham Island tāiko since 2014.

This work involves running a 20 km trapline throughout their known breeding range and intensive monitoring of burrows using RFID loggers. Each year about 40-60 feral ngeru/cats and 230 weka, which are the main predators of the Chatham Island tāiko, are removed through trapping. Over this period the tāiko population has risen from 19 breeding pairs to just under 50 pairs in 2022.