We look forward to welcoming visitors this summer.  We are open daily from 9am until 4.30 and have plenty for you to see and do. 

The interactive gallery, the beautiful loop walk as well as walks through the ancient native bush.  Our rangers start their roving ramble at 11.30 and there is an eel talk and feed and a kaka talk and feed to.  Click here to check the timetable.

In the kiwi house, both enclosures have kiwi for you to view, including our very special white kiwi, Manukura.  She has settled in to her new environment well.  Also in the kiwi house is our theatre which show three short films about the work we do here.

Our lovely cafe, Entice Too, serves fresh, delicious food made on the premises daily as well as wonderful coffee or cold refreshments.  Make your summer complete with a visit to see us soon.

$10,000 urgently needed
We have launched an appeal to raise $10,000 for some additional equipment required for Manukura's enclosure.  We are asking all our friends, members and supporters to help us out so we can purhase some additional lighting for her enclosure and high tech burrow-cam (cameras) equipment so that visitors can see her wherever she in in her vast enclosure.

Funds will also be used to make a short film about her life as it certainly has been an eventful one so far!

You can donate on our secure online system here or send a cheque to P.O. Box 680, Masterton, New Zealand.  Her viewing times are during our regular opening times, 9am until 4.30 daily, 364 days a year.  (We are closed Christmas Day).

Home sweet home

Manukura is back at Pukaha following treatment by specialist vets at Wellington Zoo following her brush with ill health.  When rangers noted Manukura was off her food and her motions were odd they sought help and advice from Wellington Zoo's specialist vet team.  An x-ray revealed two stones in her gullet.  The specialist vets investigated and one stone passed the traditional way but the other was too large and would cause untold damage to her intestines.  It was decided a urology specialist from Wellington Hospital would blast the stones using a laser and then the pieces removed via an endoscope. 

This procedure is not unlike the removal of kidney and gall stones (in humans).  The procedure was one and one half hours long and she gave the medical team (and media) in the room a bit of a scare when her heart suddenly slowed.  The world's media has picked up the story and she is appearing online in many posts including BBC in UK,  Huffington Post in Washington, USA,  in China, the Middle East and Norway - to name a few.  If you want to follow the news, hop over to her Facebook page (link is below).

You are able to watch the procedure here.  If you have ever wondered how they anaesthetise kiwi, you will find out! We wish to thank all our supporters and particularly Facebook friends from near and far who have been with us through thick and thin.  I can promise you, we are all feeling the love.  We will continue to keep you updated with progress.

And here are two links to TV3 coverage.  The first before the operation, click here and the second after the operation, click here

Why eat stones?

Kiwi are related to the extinct moa.  Moa had gut stones that assisted in processing food and it is not entirely unusual for kiwi to have the odd small stone to help them too.  However, Manukura has literally bitten off a little more than she can handle here so out they must come.

Manukura's Facebook page is inundated with well wishers and has daily updates. Have your say here.  We'd love to hear from you. There is also a charming piece of video from our rangers of one of our young chicks.  You see kiwi defence mechanisms in real time.

Please help us make the forest safe for Manukura and her cousins

Please donate to us today. Simply click here (or on the button to the right) to donate. All proceeds go toward making the forest safe for all our kiwi and other native birds. Predator control and forest restoration is our greatest cost. We have to raise over $150,000 every year. We greatly appreciate the gift of Manukura and we would be enormously grateful if you can support us with a donation.

Manukura was born on 1 May. As far as we know she is the first white kiwi born in captivity.  She was named by local iwi Rangitane o Wairarapa. Elders from the iwi saw her as tohu, a sign of new beginnings. Her name means - of chiefly status.

You may have a wee peep at Manukura by clicking here. Please press the white PLAY button and the sound comes in a few seconds. www.vimeo.com/jetproductions/manukura