Native Otago skink Godzilla is released on Saturday by
Steph Hicks, of Dunedin. Photo by Rosie Manins.
A dozen native Otago skinks are sunning themselves in a
purpose-built enclosure near Alexandra after being released
into the wild on Saturday.
The Department of Conservation, local iwi and community
members were involved in the release of skinks into the
newly-completed Mokomoko Dryland Sanctuary.
The Central Otago Ecological Trust (COET) worked with Doc to
save the Otago skink from extinction by breeding them in
captivity, hand-rearing them at Alexandra and in the North
Island, and finally releasing them into their new
predator-proof habitat within the Aldinga Conservation Area.
COET chairman and wildlife ecologist Grant Norbury said 30
years ago the skinks existed in Alexandra, although now they
were confined to 8% of their former range and were extinct
from the Alexandra basin.
"Without human intervention it's predicted they will be
extinct in the wild in 10-20 years, which makes the
conservation work that the trust and Doc does really urgent,"
he said.
The trust aims to construct a herbivore-proof fence next to
the predator-proof Mokomoko enclosure, to increase the
skink's native habitat with weeding and native planting.
"This release of captive-bred skinks is a first in New
Zealand so it's very much a trial for the trust, and if
successful the trust will go on to introduce wild-born skinks
into the area at a later date with the aim of improving the
genetic base of the re-established population," Mr Norbury
said.
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