Bittern Destined for Zoo?

zooboy28

zooboy28

Well-Known Member
An Australasian Bittern (Botaurus poiciloptilus) is being treated at Massey University Wildlife Ward, for a wing injury. It is not clear whether he will be able to be released into the wild, but if not there are apparently many wildlife centres lining up to give him a home. I think he would be great as a very hard to spot inhabitant of Te Wao Nui's wetland exhibit at Auckland Zoo, but the walkthrough nature and high visitor numbers might be a bit daunting for such a shy species (which I have yet to see). As far as I know there are none in captivity in NZ (possibly Australia too?).

Vets take Boris under their wing - national | Stuff.co.nz

Boris, an endangered New Zealand matuku, is recovering well after surgery for a fractured wing.

However the bird may have to return to the operating theatre in the next few days.

Boris was picked up by Bird Rescue Whanganui and taken to the Massey University Wildlife Centre because of the injury to his right wing which had led to it twisting around.

"We came out of surgery optimistic – it's looking good," said wildlife vet Micah Jensen. "But we're not out of the woods."

Boris underwent a two-hour operation at the centre yesterday to repair a fractured wing, which had been twisted 180 degrees.

The surgery was scheduled for Tuesday, but Boris suffered cardiac arrest and had to be resuscitated by veterinarians, so the surgery was delayed. During the operation, Boris's fractures were stabilised and his bones realigned.

"In this surgery, we achieved our objective," Jensen said.

Veterinarians can only operate on a bird for two hours at a time as the anaesthetic poses risks, so, after some rest, Boris will return to the operating table to undergo further surgery to fix his wing.

Once he has fully recovered, which could take months, Boris will be in hot demand, with wildlife centres around New Zealand hoping to give him a home.

Jensen said that because Boris's health had been so compromised, he might not be put back into the wild. It is thought he had been suffering for some time before he was found in Whanganui. It is not known what caused the injury.

The most recent census, taken in the 1980s, showed there were between 580 and 725 matuku in New Zealand. Matuku are also known as Australasian bitterns.
Click to expand...
 
I've only ever seen one Australasian bittern in captivity, at Orana Park in their walk-through aviary when it was first opened. He was there quite a while, but I don't know what happened to him in the end.

If the Massey bittern does go to a zoo then Auckland or Wellington would be the two obvious (and probably best) choices as both are of course opening their NZ areas soon. The Orana bittern was usually quite visible whenever I was there, although being a bittern he didn't move much during the daytime.
 
Chlidonias said:
I've only ever seen one Australasian bittern in captivity, at Orana Park in their walk-through aviary when it was first opened. He was there quite a while, but I don't know what happened to him in the end.

If the Massey bittern does go to a zoo then Auckland or Wellington would be the two obvious (and probably best) choices as both are of course opening their NZ areas soon. The Orana bittern was usually quite visible whenever I was there, although being a bittern he didn't move much during the daytime.
Click to expand...

Well Massey and Wellington Zoo do have quite strong ties, so I could see it going there, but I guess it would depend on when the enclosure is ready, as Aucklands will be ready very soon. Who would ultimately make that decision, DOC?
 
I was just trying a google search to see if there were any developments on this story and found this (from 2003) Massey News Article | Second chance for battered birds
Also brought into the ward last week was an adult Australasian bittern. A rarely seen swamp dweller, this animal had been hit by a car and had a severed wing.
“It was found near Te Awamutu so we’ve called it Neil Finn. Unfortunately it had such a badly fractured wing and elbow, which was also infected, that we had to amputate the wing just below the shoulder.”
Dr Gartrell says the bittern is doing well and when fully recovered will be sent to the Karori Wildlife Reserve. “It needs to be in a predator free area because it can’t fly.”
Click to expand...
nothing to do with the current bittern at Massey but I thought it was interesting. Perhaps Boris will go to Karori as well.
 
Interesting, I never saw any information about bitterns at Karori, so maybe Neil Finn didn't stay their long.

Boris is still at Massey, and it has yet to be determined whether his wing will be amputated or not. I will update this when I hear more.
 
Sadly Boris has died :( (all the details I could get), so no chance of him moving to a zoo. Although a stuffed bittern in a wetland exhibit would probably be just as good as a live one for most visitors...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top