Kakapo season 2019.

Some news from the Facebook-page of Kakapo Recovery :

Kākāpō Recovery·
Some good news: the four chicks we pulled off Anchor don't appear to have aspergillosis! This means all cases so far have only been in birds on Whenua Hou.

We've decided to pull all the chicks on Whenua Hou who hadn't already fledged from their nests for handrearing to held reduce the risk of aspergillosis for both these chicks and their mothers.
 
Pertinax said:
Any ideas as to why aspergillosis has suddenly become a problem this breeding season? Its never been mentioned in previous years afaik.
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No. Birds have died from it before (2012 I think, from memory, at least), but all the articles I've seen for this current situation make it clear that they have no clue what is going on.
 
There was an article in the paper a few weeks ago about the Kakapo 2019 season and the Aspergillosis outbreak.

The season started with 147 adult birds, and there are now 211 birds (an increase of 64 birds).

During the Aspergillosis outbreak 48 birds were taken to veterinary clinics on the mainland for assessment or treatment (totalling 17 adults and 31 chicks; of which 43 birds were from Codfish island and 5 from Anchor Island).

21 birds were found to be infected, of which nine birds died (two adults and seven chicks). All 21 birds "would have likely died" without treatment, and it is also likely that the number of deaths would have been much higher without action because at the end of May 2019 all females and chicks had been removed from nests to minimise exposure.

All the birds remaining on Codfish Island (55 birds - i.e. not including the 43 taken to the mainland for treatment) had blood samples taken for health checks, as did all the 21 breeding females on Anchor Island.

The longest stay in hospital was by juvenile female Toiora at 277 days, during which time she had eight CT scans, 28 sedations, and more than 150 diagnostic tests. (She is now back on Codfish Island).

The longest hospital stay for an adult bird was by 34-year-old Margaret-Maree at 261 days. She returned to Codfish Island in February this year, the last of the Kakapo which had been removed to the mainland.
 
The kakapo is probably my favorite bird species. I wonder if they have any plans to start ex-situ breeding programs at zoos/wildlife sanctuaries across the world someday, once they cross a certain population threshold (maybe 1,000). I would imagine any such efforts would be complicated by their rimu fruit diet...
 
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