Dotterel defence fund gets boost
The south is stepping up in the campaign to save its most desperately endangered bird, the southern dotterel.
Southland’s branch of Forest & Bird has donated $20,000 towards the campaign to bring the dotterel, which is endemic to Stewart Island and Southland’s coast, back from the precipice of extinction.
Last week the Department of Conservation released its annual flock count for the dotterel indicating a 19% decline in the population to 101 birds.
DOC said 41 adult birds were killed during the 2023/24 breeding season in the alpine tops of Rakiura (Stewart Island), defending their nests or chicks from feral cats.
The New Zealand Nature Fund aimed to raise up to $400,000 over the next four years in order to help DOC save the little bird.
The fund’s chief executive, Sarah Lyttle, said that brought the total funds raised for the project since November to $100,000 and these funds could now be used DOC’s southern dotterel team in preparation for the 2024 nesting season.
It was particularly poignant that Southland Forest & Bird had made this donation because it was long-time member Jenny Campbell who brought the dotterel’s plight to the attention of the Nature Fund, she said.
“Jenny knew that we had the ability to raise funds and support DOC with species facing extinction, so she contacted us.”
Rakiura resident, and another long-time Southland Forest & Bird member, Margaret Hopkins, said the donated funds came from the proceeds of a sale of a property some time ago and it was very appropriate that they could be used to save such a precious taonga.
Donations to the NZ Nature Fund campaign were provided directly to DOC to increase its resources and activity in the alpine areas of Rakiura to respond to the feral cat predators.