Zoo talks boost Ngāmotu natives in Conservation Week

New Plymouth’s zookeepers are offering advice this week on backyard changes to help native species thrive across the district.

It’s Conservation Week, with a focus this year on everyday actions to support nature and enhance local environments.

Every day at noon until Sunday, Brooklands Zoo staff will talk about native birds and lizards they look after.

At 2pm daily the zookeepers will discuss how to attract pollinators to home gardens, and how that helps indigenous critters.

The zoo's ruru Lulu and Tane feature in daily talks for Conservation Week (Te Korimako o Taranaki)

New Plymouth District Council’s Brooklands Zoo lead Eve Cozzi said they’d encourage locals to consider small steps with big benefits for wildlife.

Creating safe backyard habitats can have a huge impact for the likes of goldstripe geckos, she said.

Taranaki is the mainland stronghold of the goldstripe gecko, or moko mangaeka, which otherwise survive only on predator-free Mana and Kapiti Islands.

“Reducing pesticide use and sprays in your gardens can help, and having pollinating plants can encourage not only insects but also birds and the geckos,” Cozzi said.

“A lot of plants can provide berries and fruits, flowers, as well as nesting material and shelter.”

The zoo's ruru Lulu and Tane feature in daily talks for Conservation Week (Te Korimako o Taranaki)

Zookeeper Kelly Green said the talks offer “lots of little tricks and things that are nice and easy to do.”

“For ruru (morepork), keeping your cats in at night – quite an easy thing that helps not only the ruru themselves, but also their prey species,” Green said.

“I've got quite a few frogs in my garden and they like having upturned terracotta pots to winter in … then head back to the ponds in summer.”

Brooklands Zoo has a wildlife rehabilitation permit issued by the Department of Conservation with agreement from iwi.

The zoo works in partnership with the New Plymouth Vet Group, which triages the injured or orphaned birds.

“We tend to help a lot of kererū get back into the wild – we’ve had 23 of them in our care in the last four years,” Cozzi said

“We’ve rehabbed quite a range of bird species, including tūī, ruru, kōtare, pāpango and a pīpīwharauroa.”

“We care for these precious taonga away from the public’s view but we’ll enjoying sharing what we know about them at this week’s talks.”

nā Craig Ashworth craig@tekorimako.co.nz

LDR is local democracy journalism hosted by Te Korimako o Taranaki and funded by Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa and Irirangi te Motu