Just as it looked like efforts to shore up our precarious kākāpō population were paying off with a bumper breeding season - disaster struck.
Birds in their island homes in the deep south came down with a devastating disease, baffling scientists. Seven kākāpō have died and another 13 are critically ill.
The fungal disease Aspergillosis, in birds, means certain death unless they receive intensive medical intervention. We’re inside the purpose-built emergency ward at Auckland Zoo where vets are drawing on expertise from all around the world and where the status of the sick birds is changing day by day.
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