Fungal disease among endangered kākāpō on Fiordland's Anchor Island is threatening to ruin a successful breeding season of the bird.
Some newborn chicks are only a few weeks old, but are already getting medical attention at Dunedin's Wildlife Hospital.
That's because the chicks have been exposed to aspergillosis, an infection caused by the fungus aspergillus. It often causes severe respiratory illness that can be fatal.
One adult female called Jemma has already died from the disease this season, and another adult female alongside five chicks have been diagnosed.
The Department of Conservation's Kākāpō Recovery Team, based on the island, has found that aspergillosis is a very difficult disease to detect.
"The best way we can actually detect it in a bird is to get a CT scan which unfortunately when you're working with wild populations on remote islands, we need to take them off the island to the mainland," Lydia Uddstrom said.
Anchor Island doesn't have access to CT scanners due to its isolation.
As a result, kākāpō are being sent to Dunedin's Wildlife Hospital for scans that Uddstrom says is critical.
"This is the kind of disease that can progress really quickly and when you catch it in the late stages it's very difficult to treat," she said.
"Blood tests and health checks and things like that might give you a little bit of an indication, but often not until the birds are in a really, really bad way.
"[By] getting them CT scanned early, we get a better chance of catching them early in the disease and having a really good chance to successfully treat them."
As a result, the manager of Dunedin's Wildlife Hospital, Jordana Whyte, and her team are conducting the scans to diagnose any issues among the young chicks.
"What we're doing is just a bit of diagnostics, we're double-checking to make sure these chicks don't have any signs of a lung infection or any underlying disease."
The machines drastically increase the chance of the kākāpō's survival, but the hospital doesn't have its own, and outsourcing can be expensive.
"We can't charge our patients for their care," Whyte said.
As a result, Ag Research's Invermay campus in Mosgiel has freed up some space in their CT machines for the wildlife hospital to use. The facility normally uses the machine to scan livestock.
"This is the first time I think we've actually scanned anything that fits in that category," Ag Research's Neville Jopson said.
"We normally scan farm animals that we're evaluating for how much meat and fat they have to try and improve their genetics.
"It's always interesting when you're scanning something for the first time, there's just a bit of worry that you've got all the settings right.
"We've never had animals that are this precious come through the scanner."
Whyte said she was thankful the local machine was available for use.
"As a charity it's really important to us that we have cost savings, so they allow us to do CT scans at a much lower price."
SHARE ME