The Department of Conservation (DoC) and the Ministry for Primary Industries are battling to find a cure for mysterious neurological disease that is shortening the life of an already critically endangered Canterbury bird.
The disease causes inflammation of the brain and other organs, leading to muscle tremors, loss of coordination, decreased ability to eat and in many cases causes death.
It affects up to 10 percent of kakī/black stilt chicks before they are able to fly at 35 days old.
DoC and MPI have now teamed up to find a cure.
"We've gone through and ruled out all the common and known factors that could've potentially been causing the disease, and now we're trying something different," says Kelly Buckle, MPI incursion investigator.
MPI scientists are testing samples from the most recent breeding season to see if they find any answers in the DNA of diseased tissue from the dead chicks. To obtain suitable samples, tissues were painstakingly collected and were shipped in liquid nitrogen to the MPI laboratory.
Testing will likely take several months, as MPI scientists analyse millions of DNA sequences.
"The hope is that the data produced may provide evidence of an infectious cause behind the neurological disease, so that we can find the best way to prevent it," says Ms Buckle.
On Wednesday, 79 young kakī are being released into south Canterbury's Mackenzie Basin as part of the ongoing conservation programme.
"Despite the programme's high breeding successes in recent years, we've struggled to increase the population which sits at around 93 wild birds," says DoC ranger Liz Brown.
"Approximately 70 percent of the young birds released this week are likely to be taken by predators before reaching adulthood."
DoC plans to boost post-release survival rates using a new release site for 36 of this year's young kakī. Located in the Tekapo/Godley Delta, the site offers a greater variety and abundance of food at what is a critical time for young kakī.
The kakī, or black stilt, is a native wading bird only found in New Zealand.
It is regarded by Maori as a taonga species - a living treasure.
Once common throughout New Zealand, kakī are now restricted to the braided rivers and wetlands of the Mackenzie Basin.
In 1981 kakī numbers declined to a low of just 23. There are 93 in the wild in 2016.
Newshub.
