Ever wondered how a sick bird gets better? 🤔🐦
On the second day of Conservation week 2024, we’re highlighting the vital contribution that our onsite animal hospital, Te Kōhanga The Nest, makes to native birdlife.
In the past 5 years we’ve cared for 1, 688 native patients at Te Kōhanga. Most of these were native birds who were found injured by members of the community and brought to Te Kōhanga for treatment.
Our Vet team’s seen them all: Ruru, Kororā, Kākā, Kea, Toroa, Kererū, Kiwi, Bellbird, Blach shag, Cape petrel, Dotterel, Fantail, Hihi, New Zealand Falcon, Pied Shag, Heron, Tūī, and A LOT more. 🐔🐧🐦🐥🦆🦉🦇
Caring for these native Taonga means A LOT of morning treatments, where our Vet team spruce up the habitats of the birds we’re caring for, weigh them, refresh their food, and test their health markers to ensure they’re tracking towards recovery.
There’s also poop testing. Lots and lots of poop testing.
Check out this video of one of our Vets during morning treatments, caring for injured wildlife in a temporary sick bay until they’re strong enough to move into an aviary.
As a charity, we rely on the support of our community to continue running the facilities at Te Kōhanga. 💚
Help us act for nature in Conservation Week 2024. Donate now: https://wellingtonzoo.com/support-us/donate/
Today marks the first day of Conservation Week 2024. We’re highlighting this year’s theme of acting for nature by sharing the amazing work of Te Kōhanga The Nest all week long. 🦁🐦
In the past year we’ve cared for 406 native animals at Te Kōhanga, including...
🐧 387 native birds
🦎 17 native reptiles
🐠 2 native fish
Our Vet team has had 1,540 clinicial interactions with Zoo animals, including...
🩺 587 medication prescriptions
👩⚕️ 889 clinical notes
🚑 64 anaesthetic events
To everyone who supports our conservation work through giving, thank you. We need your help to continue rehabilitating and releasing native species and caring for our Zoo's animals. 🐾
Your donations help us help them. Donate now: https://wellingtonzoo.com/support-us/donate/
Sadiki and Jelani's new toy
Jelani + enrichment = 😄🦁
Our awesome Keepers tied this barrel to a tree in the Lion habitat and Sadiki and Jelani have been LOVING their new toy!
This barrel and bungee combo makes for a great enrichment activity. It encourages the Lions to use their muscles in different ways which helps to keep them happy and healthy. 💛
Te Nukuao Wellington Zoo is a charity caring for animals and people. The animals we care for need us, and we need you.
Donate now to help us care for animals like Sadiki and Jelani: https://wellingtonzoo.com/support-us/donate/
📸Keeper Maddy
DROP EVERYTHING!
Snow Leopard Close Encounter bookings are live NOW on our website! 😱🤩
Get within a whisker of these elusive cats with an exclusive behind the scenes experience.
Your Encounter could focus on nutrition, health checks, or the Snow Leopards' training and behaviour. The experience is strictly hands-off (sorry, no cuddles) but you'll leave with A LOT of warm fuzzies and lifelong memories. 🥰
Te Nukuao Wellington Zoo is a charity. Every dollar raised through experiences like Close Encounters helps us save wildlife and wild places.
Book now 👉 https://wellingtonzoo.com/visit/plan-your-day/things-to-do/close-encounters/snowleopard
Sunny and Nyala
We can't get enough of these unlikely friends. 🥰
📸Keeper Ash
In case you missed it! 📢
Snow Leopard Close Encounter bookings are launching on our website on Monday the 26th of August! 😍
Get ready to be among the first to get exclusive behind the scenes access and learn how our Keepers train, feed, and health-check these Ghost Cats.
There’s more… we’re auctioning off all x4 spots on the first EVER Snow Leopard Close Encounter on Trade Me now! Get bidding for the chance for you and three friends or whānau to get within a whisker of these cool cats. Bid now 👇👇
https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/marketplace/travel-events-activities/activities/listing/4868197197
All the money raised through the auction will help us save wildlife and wild places in Aotearoa and around the world. 💛
Interrupting your feed with an important announcement... it's World Lion Day! 👏🦁
Sadiki and Jelani are celebrating with an enrichment activity set up by our Keepers. This large green barell is called a Tipsy Tom and it's their new favourite thing!
Enrichment activites add variety to the habitats and routines of the animals we care for, and help keep them happy and healthy.
Learn more about Sadiki, Jelani and allll the other animals we care for with a visit to the Zoo this week! 💛
📸Keeper Rafe
Live from Te Nukuao Wellington Zoo: Sheep Rugby predictions. 🐑🏈
Onyx the Sheep has picked New Zealand to beat Argentina in tonight's match.
What do we think All Blacks? Can we make it happen? 🤔🏆
Senja's loving her enrichment!
Our Animal Care teams present food in all sorts of ways to keep things interesting for the animals we care for. 🐯
To spice up Senja's week, our Keepers set up this bungee cord in the Tiger habitat with food attached to one end.
Enrichment activities like these encourage the animals to use their muscles and work for their meal. This helps keep them happy and healthy!
Wanna learn more about how we care for Senja and Bashii? Pay us a visit this weekend! We're open every day from 9:30am to 5pm. 🧡
📸Keeper Maddy
Take a leaf out of Nia's book and get outside this weekend for a stroll around the Zoo!
PSA: Long walks through nature have been known to tire out kids with just a liiiiitle too much energy. 😜
📸Keeper Ash
Five Domains Model
At Te Nukuao Wellington Zoo, we train the animals we care for to participate in their own healthcare. 🚑
Using positive reinforcement, our Animal Care team teaches species like Kororā to present different parts of their bodies, or to climb on the scales, so we can take a closer look at their health markers.
Here, Keeper Kristen is using food as a positive reinforcement to get Paua the Kororā to climb on the scales. This helps our Keepers check that the animals in our care are sitting at a healthy weight. 🐧🐟
To make sure the animals we care for are happy and healthy, we focus on the Five Domains of Animal Welfare: Nutrition, Environment, Health, Behaviour, and Mental State.
Learn more about the Five Domains next time you're at the Zoo!
📸Keeper Kristen
We need your help to protect our native Bird species by participating in the Aotearoa Garden Bird Survey for 2024!
It’s super easy to take part, all you need to do is:
⏰Choose a day (between June 29 and July 7)
🌳Pick a backyard, garden, or park as your observation spot
🐦Watch and listen for birds for 1 hour
📋Record the highest number of any bird species observed within that hour
💻Submit your survey results here: https://gardenbirdsurvey.nz/
That’s it! Ngā mihi for going above and beyond to protect Aotearoa’s native taonga.
New Zealand Garden Bird Survey
International Otter Day
What better way to celebrate International Otter Day than with an Otter Cuddle Huddle! 🥰
Help us celebrate these adorable brothers by paying them a visit this weekend! We're open everyday from 9:30am to 5pm.
Te Nukuao Wellington Zoo is a charity. Every dollar you spend on admission tickets, Close Encounters, Zoo Crew Memberships, and donations helps us save wildlife and wild places.
We couldn't do it without you. 🧡
Cassia the Tasmanian Devil
Just a Tasmanian Devil making friends with the camera. 🥰
We're open all weekend from 9:30am to 5pm. Nau mai haere mai!
📷Ranger Anya
Some of you may have noticed that the Kea Aviary at Te Nukuao Wellington Zoo has been a little quiet for the last few weeks. 🤫
Since early March, the Kea at Te Nukuao Wellington Zoo have been undergoing treatment at Te Kōhanga The Nest for an Aspergillosis infection.
Aspergillosis is a fungal disease that can be serious for the Birds that contract it. Treatment options are limited because infection happens fast, and organ damage can quickly follow.
In March, Murray the Kea was brought to Te Kōhanga after showing a drop in energy levels. The rest of the flock showed similar symptoms over the course of the week and joined Murray at Te Kōhanga where they received intensive care from our amazing Vet team. 👩⚕️🩺
Sadly, Puka and Tutu’s health declined rapidly, and the pair passed away within 24 hours of each other.
Our Vets continued to treat three Kea: Murray, Fern and Te Anau, with two types of antifungal therapy and nutritional support. Each of these Kea has been responding differently to treatment, meaning their health and recovery has been moving at different speeds.
Murray and Fern continue to be cared for in Te Kōhanga due to their high white blood cell counts and respiratory symptoms. Happily, the pair are responding well to medication and were reintroduced in the Te Kōhanga aviary for some social enrichment to speed their recovery.
In April, the team at Te Kōhanga confirmed that Te Anau was disease free through a CT scan at Pacific Radiology. She was discharged from Te Kōhanga and is officially back at The Roost in an off-display habitat while the Kea Aviary is being refreshed. 💙🥰
Ka pai to our wonderful Vet and Animal Care teams for treating these Kea with the utmost care and respect, and to you for your patience and understanding during this difficult time.
📸Vet Kirsten
Toroa Release
Last week a team from Te Kōhanga The Nest took a boat ride to the middle of the Cook Strait to release a Black Browed Toroa Albatross who has been living at Te Kōhanga for the past few weeks. 🌊💙
The Toroa was brought to Te Kōhanga for treatment after being found in poor condition near Wellington Airport in April.
Once the Toroa was stabilized, our Vet Team anaesthetized them and performed x-rays and an endoscopy where a flexible tube with a camera at the tip was used to examine the digestive tract. 👩🔬🚑
Sadly, our Vets found part of a deflated orange balloon inside the bird's stomach. Our Vets removed the plastic and placed the Albatross on a recovery plan to build up his strength. 🎈
A month after arriving at Te Kōhanga, the Albatross was strong enough to be released back into the wild with the help of the @newzealandpolice who drove the boat out into the Cook Strait.
As you can see, this Toroa was thrilled to be back in the sky. 🥰
Ka pai to the @newzealandpolice 's Maritime Unit and our Vet Team at Te Kōhanga for taking such good care of this precious Taonga.
Wanna get the kids outside this weekend? Time for a visit to the Zoo! 😄
Stroll past the habitats of some of the world's most endangered species and learn how YOU can help us save their relatives in the wild. 🦁🌎
If you wanna be a climate champion, why not walk or catch the bus next time you visit the Zoo?
Public transport is one of the BEST ways to lower your carbon footprint. Buses can move large amounts of people from point A to point B in one trip, meaning less carbon is released into the atmosphere. 🚌
📸Ranger Andy
Sign Language Week 2024
Today we're celebrating New Zealand Sign Language Week 2024!
Learn how to sign the names of some of the animals we care for in this video starring our Rangers and Learning Team. 🐵🦎🐯
Ka kite anō!
Kamory yawning!
Need a little pick me up? Enjoy this video of Kamory yawning. 😎
Thank us later. 🥰
If you wanna be a climate champion, why not walk or catch the bus on your next visit to the Zoo? Public transport is one of the BEST ways to reduce fossil fuel emissions and lower your carbon footprint. 🚌🌎
📸Ranger Andy
