Wildlife Foxton Trust

zooboy28

zooboy28

Well-Known Member
A new wildlife centre is in the early planning stages in Foxton, a very small coastal town in the lower North Island. I'm not sure this area has the population to support such a venture, although if its underpinned by a cafe/resturant it could work, and the area does get visitors from the two large centres in the region. Will be interesting to see how this develops.

Full story here: Foxton wildlife centre on agenda for trust | Stuff.co.nz

Wildlife Foxton Trust has revealed details of its plan for a wildlife centre in Foxton to Horizons Regional Council.

John Girling, interim chairman of the trust, asked the council on May 20 to allocate funding in it's long-term plan to opening the Foxton river loop of the Manawatu river.

The trust is in the process of buying the site next to the river loop on the corner of Main, Union and Harbour streets, on which it wants to build a wildlife centre.

"There are buildings on the site at the moment.The large building we want to turn into an aquarium," he said.

There are plans to have two aviaries, one for local and one for exotic birds, and a restaurant and bar.

"Throughout the site we will have terraria for reptiles," he said.

"Geckos, skinks and hopefully tuataras."

"The opening of the Foxton river loop would be beneficial to the project."

"What we get in the loop at the moment is the tide."

"We would like them to open the channel again."

"We firmly believe if the river is good, the people are good."

"Opening the river loop and the establishment of the wildlife centre will re-juvenate Foxton," Girling said.

Other submissions from the trust included asking Horizons to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the trust, requesting that all cattle be removed from the region's waterways and asking for development of a policy around walkways and cycleways.

"The common theme of the submissions is the ecological and economic well-being of Foxton," he said.

"We have lots of good things, but people don't know they are here."

The trust has support from the three primary schools, the Save the River trust and the Morgan Foundation.
Click to expand...
 
I just had a look to see what has happened with this development.

They have a website, which doesn't give much information (and the "news" section hasn't been added to since 2015):
Wildlife Foxton Trust

And they have a Facebook page which mentions Open Days, suggesting they are still mostly private, but they also have mention of "native and exotic lizards" and there is a photo of a Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, so they have at least some species on site.
Wildlife Foxton Trust
 
I was able to visit Wildlife Foxton Trust today. Until recently, the facility could only be visited via a guided tour. The guided tour is now optional, but there is still an entrance fee. The aim of the facility has changed since its initial conception, with the current goal being to educate visitors about the less-popular native animals that are found in NZ. As such, there are no native birds and no Tuatara, and there probably never will be. For non-NZ readers, the Bar-tailed Godwit is featured on the Trust's logo because that species can be seen in the wild at the nearby Manawatū Estuary.

The native animals that are held at Wildlife Foxton Trust are lizards, freshwater fish, and invertebrates. They also hold some exotic species; the ones that I saw were four common species of pet lizards, and a pair of Greater Sulphur-crested Cockatoo. For a small additional fee, visitors are also allowed to hold the pet lizards, which I did not do. Visitors can also request for a Trust worker to hold lizards (both native and exotic) for photography, which is free, and which I did request.

The list of animals that I personally saw is as follows:


BIRD

-Greater Sulphur-crested Cockatoo: 2

REPTILES

-Eastern Water Dragon: 1
-Central Bearded Dragon: 2
-Leopard Gecko: 2
-Eastern blue-tongued Skink: 2, both outdoors.
-Rough Green Gecko (Rudis Gecko) (Naultinus rudis): 1
-Northland Green Gecko (Naultinus grayii): 2; one indoors and one outdoors.
-Auckland Green Gecko (yellow factor/yellow morph) (Naultinus elegans): 1
-Wellington Green Gecko (Naultinus punctatus): 1 baby, indoors.
-Forest Gecko (labelled as, "Forest Gecko (General)") (Mokopirirakau granulatus): 1

FISH

-Inanga (Galaxias maculatus): 6
-Species signed only as, "Whitebait": At least 6

INVERTEBRATES

-Freshwater Crayfish (Paranephrops planifrons): 2
-New Zealand Mud Snail (Potamopyrgus antipodarum): At least several hundred in a very large tank.
-Unidentified larger species of freshwater snail: 1 in the same tank as the mud snails.


The secretive and/or nocturnal nature of many of the animals that are held at Wildlife Foxton Trust means that it was to be expected that there were multiple enclosures that were labelled as being occupied, but within which I personally saw nothing. The labels on these enclosures were as follows:


-Blue-Tongue Skink (indoors)
-Northland Green Gecko (on a third enclosure)
-Wellington Green Gecko (outdoors)
-Duvaucel's Gecko (large enclosure, outdoors)
-Male Duvaucel's Gecko (small enclosure, indoors)
-Baby Duvaucel's Gecko
-Baby Forest Gecko
-Southern North Island Forest Gecko (on 3 enclosures)
-Canterbury Gecko (is nocturnal)
-Grass Skink
-Brown Tree Frog (on a small indoor enclosure)
-Whistling Brown Tree Frog (on a huge outdoor gazebo enclosure)
-(Common Brushtail) Possum (on a large wooden outdoor enclosure)
-Praying Mantis (might be Miomantis caffra, going by the Trust's social media and a sign at the front of the property)


I was also informed that the Trust does still have a freshwater turtle (which, from their social media, looks to be a Chinese Pond Turtle), but despite the smallish size of the property, I could not figure out where it was.

The only future plan that I heard is that the huge tank that currently only holds freshwater snails will eventually hold Giant Kōkopu (Galaxias argenteus), which the Trust does not hold currently.
 
I was in Foxton today and dropped in to have a look at the Trust's collection.

Species list:

Freshwater Crayfish (Koura) Paranephrops sp
NZ Praying Mantis Orthodera novaezealandiae
Tree Weta Hemideina thoracica

Inanga Galaxias maculatus
Giant Kokopu Galaxias argenteus
Short-jawed Kokopu Galaxias postvectis

Whistling Tree Frog Litoria ewingii

Eastern Blue-tongue Skink Tiliqua scincoides
Eastern Water Dragon Intellagama lesueurii
Central Bearded Dragon Pogona vitticeps
Leopard Gecko Eublepharis macularius

Duvaucel's Gecko Hoplodactylus duvaucelii
Forest Gecko Mokopirirakau granulatus
Canterbury (Waitaha) Gecko Woodworthia brunnea

Rough Gecko Naultinus rudis
Wellington Green Gecko Naultinus punctatus
Auckland Green Gecko Naultinus elegans
Northland Green Gecko Naultinus grayii

Greater Sulphur-crested Cockatoo Cacatua galerita

Brush-tailed Possum Trichosurus vulpecula
 
A few updates:
  • a new species has arrived - a two-year-old male Pacific Gecko, Dactylocnemis pacificus.
  • recent births have included an Auckland Green Gecko and a Duvacel's Gecko.
 
Wildlife Foxton Trust is now permanently closed. Per Facebook, the staff intend to begin a different venture outside of Foxton but there are no further details at this time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top