World's oldest takehe dies

The world's oldest known takahe, Alpine, has died in Te Anau.

For 27 years, the bird captivated thousands of visitors to Te Anau Wildlife Park, Southland.

"We are very sad that we've lost Alpine," Department of Conservation Te Anau area manager Reg Kemper said.

"She was the world's oldest known takahe and really was the Grand Dame of the takahe population."

Doc takahe ranger Linda Kilduff said Alpine was euthanised as her age and fragile health meant she could not have survived surgery for a leg infection.

Alpine, who was removed as an egg from the Murchison Mountains in 1982, signified the start of the takahe recovery programme, she said.

The success of hatching and raising her led to the opening of the specialist takahe rearing unit at Burwood Reserve, now known as the Burwood Bush Takahe Rearing Unit.

Alpine's progeny was more than 15 birds.

Her death comes as the recovery teams nationwide celebrated a good breeding season for takahe with about 21 chicks hatched on predator-free island sanctuaries and, for the first time, the small mainland population on Maungatautari Ecological Island, Waikato, produced a chick.

Takahe recovery manager Phil Tisch said to prevent overcrowding on the islands, eight chicks would be transferred to Burwood Bush to be matched with the unit's breeding pairs.

Their arrival, combined with the 12 chicks already at Burwood, would be the largest number of young takahe the unit has cared for during a breeding season.

Once the chicks were nearly a year old, they would be released into a trapped area in the Murchison Mountains, in Fiordland National Park.