By 3 News online staff
The critically endangered kakapo population has been dealt a blow by the death of a young female called 'Ellie' on Codfish Island.
Her death at the age of 16 has had conservation groups mourning the bird and what could have been, with the possibility of her future generations of chicks snuffed out.
Kakapo Recovery rangers found Ellie's body last week and found no obvious signs of illness or injury.
Data from her transmitter has placed her time of death around June 23.
Conservation services manager for kakapo and takahe Deidre Vercoe says Ellie had already bred twice, but both her single egg clutches had been infertile.
"Given that kakapo can potentially live more than 60 years, it's a tragedy that she has died at the age of 16, when she may have had decades of successful breeding ahead of her," she says.
The body will be sent to the New Zealand Centre for Conservation Medicine at Auckland Zoo for an autopsy.
Ellie's death brings the population down to 125; however, the group is buoyed be the possible bumper breeding season next summer.
3 News
