Captive breeding helps New Zealand’s threatened black stilts take flight

The black stilt or kakī is a critically endangered wading bird with fewer than 200 individuals living in the wild. The main threat to the kakī is introduced predators, such as stoats, ferrets, rats and cats, but the birds are also vulnerable to flooding in their habitat. The Kakī Recovery Programme, run by New Zealand’s Department of Conservation, runs a captive-breeding and reintroduction program, which has helped boost the wild kakī population by 30% over the past year.

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