Funds needed for wild idea
Lizards, birds, fish and eels are multiplying at a Foxton wildlife centre, but hundreds of thousands of dollars is needed to secure a permanent home. Wildlife Foxton has bold plans to open the centre to the public. In 2014, the trust was founded to create a native wildlife showcase for tourists and locals to have up-close experiences with native birds and plants, and contribute to conservation and science. Since then, backers have been collecting and breeding species, building up assets and knowledge, and hosting school visits. But chairman John Girling said the trust’s operations had extended as far as they could without securing land, and backers hoped sponsors or ‘‘champions’’ could be found to help them raise $300,000 to $500,000 to buy their current home or another property, as a permanent base. Until now, the trust has had a free site at a lot on Foxton’s river loop precinct near the town’s new cultural centre and traditional Dutch windmill. It now has 17 species, including geckos, a gallery of the fish that whitebait grow into, eels, and exotic species suitable for visitors and school children to meet and handle, such as blue-tongued lizards and a cockatoo. ‘‘We’ve got aquariums and cages, vehicles, heaters and feeders, a bird aviary. We’ve got everything we need to start up [for the public],’’ Girling said. ‘‘I’ve got 10 aquariums, and people who want to catch [more] native fish for us, but nowhere to put them. We can’t put our solar panels up yet, because we don’t have a roof, and we have equipment for a very good audio-visual room, once we’ve got the actual room.’’ The spot is next to aquatic and bird life at the Foxton river loop and near the internationally recognised and protected wetlands, home to rare and endangered species. For now, the landowner was holding the site for the trust, and was willing to sell at a fair price, but that wouldn’t last forever, Girling said. If the trust could buy its site, the group would turn offices into a multimedia visitor centre and classroom, install aquariums, build a walk-in aviary and add native plantings. The target amount would ‘‘put us to the point we have our first stage of development, and can open to the public. Once we get open to the public we would have a sustainable income, which would enable us to grow’’. ‘‘When we are operational, we’ll probably have between 22 and 25 fulland part-time jobs here,’’ Girling said.