The West Coast Wildlife Centre is a kiwi house that opened in 2010 at Franz Josef, which now undertakes the entire Operation Nest Egg incubation for Okarito brown kiwi (aka rowi). The ONE programme takes eggs from the wild, incubates and rears the chicks in a captive situation, and then the young birds are released, the aim of the programme being reducing mortality of chicks from introduced mammalian predators. Usually four young Okarito brown kiwi are on display in the nocturnal house (although there were only two when I was there).
The centre is basically composed of four small display rooms, three of which are relating to kiwi (one of them is the nocturnal kiwi house itself, in which there is a restriction on photography so no photos will be posted here), and the fourth being this room of fake ice-walls. There is also the incubation room for eggs but that was not in operation when I visited due to it being winter.
Franz Josef, in which the centre is located, is a town existing pretty much solely to cater to tourists visiting the nearby Franz Josef glacier, so the glacier room is an entirely appropriate inclusion however one cannot help but make the connection to the displays at International Antarctic Centre in Christchurch (previously owned by Richard Benton, who set up and owns the West Coast Wildlife Centre). As well as the ice walls, the room also has various signage and video on glaciers.
This view is looking forwards into the room from the exit of the kiwi area.
