The young kaki (black stilt), one of only 132 adults remaining in the wild, went under the knife at the Wildlife Hospital Dunedin yesterday morning.
The native wading bird from the Mackenzie Basin sustained severe injuries in both feet requiring treatment with antibiotics and painkillers, followed by surgery yesterday to repair the damage.
In the anxious minutes before operating on the critically endangered taonga, wildlife veterinary surgeon Dr Lisa Argilla said despite the severity of the injury, she was hopeful the young bird would be able to return to his native habitat of braided riverbeds, swamps and tarns.
"Hopefully, he will get out in the wild again, but they have a potential captive plan if not.
"He’s got quite good genetics, so ... if he can’t be released and needs to be monitored, they will be able to incorporate him into the breeding programme."
One of New Zealand’s leading wildlife surgeons, Dr Argilla said it was a privilege to work with the species, nearly as rare as Kakapo in the wild, but the stakes were high.
"There’s always pressure, it doesn’t matter what species it is.
"He’s critically endangered, so that puts more pressure on ... because every bird counts when they’re critically endangered."
Her previous work with similar foot injuries on yellow-eyed penguins had informed Dr Argilla’s approach for the young kaki.
"The infection has destroyed the bones in his toes, so there’s no hope of him ever having a bone in his toe, which is really sad.
"There’s two options we could have gone for, option one, which is the easier option, would have been to just amputate the toes, which leaves him with two toes on each foot," she explained.
However, the wildlife hospital staff were unsure how the formerly three-toed bird would cope in the wild with just two toes, as this could fatally compromise his balance. Staff decided the best approach would be to remove the infected tissue and pieces of bone and leave some tendon and soft tissue behind to scar.
"And you leave a decent sized stump and hopefully that provides a weight-bearing surface that he can walk on."
The lively black bird was anaesthetised about 10.30am yesterday.
Speaking yesterday afternoon, senior wildlife veterinary nurse Angelina Martelli said the kaki came through the surgery and recovered well.
"The toes were a lot worse than expected but we are still hopeful for a good recovery."
