History
The history of Mount Bruce National Wildlife Centre is inextricably linked with that of the conservation of takahē and Elwyn Welch - a local farmer and amateur ornithologist. The takahē being the indigenous bird species that was thought to be extinct and was rediscovered in 1948, while Elwyn Welch was the farmer from Mount Bruce area who was a dedicated amateur ornithologist successfully breeding native bird species, including takahē.
The Pukaha Mount Bruce Forest is a protected Forest Reserve and the last surviving 942 hectares of the ancient Seventy Mile Bush that once stretched from Masterton to central Hawkes Bay area on New Zealand's North Island. This forest was once a huge green cloak over the landscape, with diverse tree species, including towering rimu, totara and northern rata, as well as many ferns, shrubs, climbers and herbs. Moreover, the forest was alive with the sounds of many different bird species, such as huia, kōkako, saddleback, piopio, kaka and kiwi. But most of the bush was destroyed and converted to farmland.
The forest was acquired by the government in 1867 - bought from the Maori - and the Mount Bruce Forest was reserved and set aside in 1889. The reason for this is not quite clear. Three possibilities have been suggested. It was reserved because (a) it was the last remaining part of the Seventy Mile Bush, or (b) settlers might need a supply for building in later years, or (c) bird life was an important source of food for the local Maori.
Anyway, some 55 ha of the total 942 ha were further protected as a Native Bird Reserve, administered by the Wildlife Service. A captive-breeding facility for native wildlife was established on these 55 ha, building on local farmer Elwyn Welch's attempts to rear and breed the rediscovered takahē (which started in 1957), the first species that was introduced to the Reserve. Local man Elwyn Welch became an expert in captive raising of birds, including endangered birds, leading to successes with takahē (Porphyrio hochstetteri) in the 1950s.
The Wildlife Service successfully bred brown teal in 1962, and whio (blue duck) in 1964, but did not succeed in breeding takahē until 1977. In the same decade, a large number of brown teal, buff weka and kakariki were released. The facility was renamed as the National Wildlife Centre (NWC) in 1980. The range of species held at Mount Bruce increased during the 1970s and 1980s, with successful breeding being recorded for North Island saddleback, little spotted kiwi, great spotted kiwi, Antipodes Island parakeet, black stilt, hihi (stitchbird), kereru, North Island kōkako, North Island robin, Auckland Island teal and grand skink.
Since 1981, the NWC at Pukaha Mount Bruce has been jointly managed with the National Wildlife Centre Trust, initially in partnership with the NZ Wildlife Service, and later (since 1987) the Department of Conservation (DOC). This arrangement allowed the DOC to concentrate on captive breeding programmes and the Trust to focus on visitor benefits. A visitor centre complex was built and opened in 1983. Already two years later the nocturnal house for kiwi was built.
During the 1990s and subsequently, the focus of captive breeding at NWC was on breeding threatened species for release as part of national recovery programmes and on development of captive husbandry techniques for species that would require captive-breeding programmes. Major programmes focussed on species such as Campbell Island teal, shore plover, North Island kōkako, hihi and kākā.
Integrated management between the NWC and the adjacent Mount Bruce Scenic Reserve began with the release of captive-reared and translocated kākā in 1996. The successful reintroduction of kākā - a New Zealand's first - led to the necessity of intensive predator control in the forest, and this was followed by releases of North Island kōkako and North Island brown kiwi from 2003.
In 2001 the entire forest became part of the wildlife reserve, extending the area from 55 to 942 ha, increasing the capacity to breed a variety of native species, including birds of course. About 100 km of footpaths were cut and thousands of traps and bait stations were scattered, setting up an area for wildlife with low predator pressure.
In 2006 the Pukaha Mount Bruce Board has been established, a strong partnership between the Pukaha Mount Bruce Board, Rangitane o Wairarapa and the DOC. In July 2013 the Pukaha Mount Bruce Board took over the operation of the Visitor Centre, education programmes and retail activities from the DOC. In October 2015, it took over the operation of the captive breeding programme from the DOC as well, while the DOC is contracted to undertake the forest restoration programme at Pukaha Mount Bruce on behalf of the Board.
Mount Bruce National Wildlife Centre, now a well-respected and successful Reserve, is still situated about two kilometres from 'Kelvin Grove', Elwyn Welch's farm where it all started.
The Centre's mission
Though not officially called a zoo and not a member of the Zoo and Aquarium Association (ZAA) Mount Bruce National Wildlife Centre operates like a regular zoological facility with a mission to conserve and restore wildlife, operates breeding programmes and runs a visitor's centre focussed on education. Probably the only difference with a regular zoo is their sole focus on native wildlife and tree species. Currently restoration mostly concerns birds, but will expand to bats and reptiles such as the tuatara.
It has established a safe haven for species that once used to thrive in New Zealand. Additionally, the captive-bred individuals are being reintroduced in the wild. Bird releases started in 1996 with nine kākā, the bush parrot. Currently there's a colony of approximately 160 kākā in the Mount Bruce Forest, and the goal is to establish a population of 600. Furthermore, in 2003 North Island brown kiwi and North Island kōkako were successfully reintroduced to the area. Over 15 kiwi are currently living in the forest and two in the nocturnal house. For the breeding programme, they incubate kiwi eggs to protect chicks and thus give them the chance to become adult.
The Campbell Island teal
The Campbell Island teal captive-breeding programme was notable as being one of the two major components in the successful Campbell Island teal recovery programme, along with the 2001 eradication of Norway rats from 11,300 ha Campbell Island. Captive-bred teal were introduced to Whenua Hou (Codfish Island) in 1999 and 2000, and a mix of captive-bred birds and 'wild' birds from Whenua Hou were successfully reintroduced to Campbell Island in 2004/06. This resulted in termination of the captive-breeding programme in 2008, which had achieved its main goal.
The Centre runs an extensive education programme called the Learning experiences Outside the Classroom (LEOTC), giving school children the chance to see the kiwi and to learn about environmental problems facing New Zealand.
(Source: Wikipedia; Elwyn Owen Arnold Welch from Teara - the encyclopedia of New Zealand; Department of Conservation - Pukaha Mount Bruce captive management strategic direction 2010-2015; website Pukaha Mount Bruce National Wildlife Centre; Mount Bruce National Wildlife Centre by Colin Scadden, 2000)
Visit(s)
05.03.2016
On a beautiful Saturday during an excellent late summer period I visit the Pukaha Mount Bruce National Wildlife Centre, which above all is a breeding centre for native New Zealand species. Though officially not a zoo it captures several of the essential features you'll see at respected representatives of the modern zoo community. They keep rare species in captivity, they breed endangered species, they engage in 'in-situ' conservation by returning captive-bred species into New Zealand's wild and they run educational programmes. They even have daily entertainment feeding of kaka, the inquisitive bush parrots, and the long finned eel or tuna, New Zealand's biggest endemic fish.
Not all species are on display, some of them are only kept for breeding purposes. But you can see conservation in action when experiencing close encounters with some of New Zealand's most precious and threatened native birds, including stitchbird, kaka and kokako that has been reintroduced in the Mount Bruce Forest - the last remaining remnant of this once majestic forest.
At the Wildlife Centre they keep the following species in aviaries and enclosures: kiwi, kokako, kaka (bush parrot), whio (blue duck), kakariki (yellow and red-crowned and orange-fronted parakeet), hihi (stitchbird), takahe (notornis) and Tuatara - the living fossil. The latter is the only survivor of an extinct group of reptiles that lived during the age of the dinosaurs. Tuatara survived because no predators invaded New Zealand when it separated from Australia about 90 million years ago. They lived throughout the mainland of New Zealand until humans arrived and introduced harmful predators.
After passing through the visitor's centre you first enter the part with the few enclosures where they keep and breed the endangered species in captivity. Most of the enclosures are well-hidden in the lush vegetation of the forest. The aviaries are not spectacular, but fit-for-purpose and they provide ample space for the birds to fly around. The kiwi house & nursery is a nocturnal house of course, where they have two North Island brown kiwi (Apterix mantelli) on display. One of them is the extraordinary white female kiwi named Manukura. She is not an albino, but her white colour is caused by the rare recessive gene both her parents carry and that results in reduced pigmentation of the feathers making them white - this is known as leucism. This rare trait would have made her an easy target for predators in the wild, standing out in her white plumage at night. She probably would not have lived very long in the wild, and certainly not the age of four she has reached here at the Wildlife Centre.
Besides the modest area where they have enclosures and breeding facilities there is an enormous native forest with several tracks (some even accessible for wheelchairs), of which one is a 2 hour loop walk. Here they reintroduced hihi, kaka and kokako, but other native birds can be seen and heard as well, such as piwakawaka (fantail), riroriro (grey warbler), kereru (native wood pigeon), kotare (kingfisher), pukeko (swamp hen), titipounamu (rifleman), korimako (bellbird), pipiwharauroa (shining cuckoo), tui (parson bird) and weka (woodhen).
The downside of this large natural forest is that it is hard to keep predators out. Predators such as stoats, wildcat and possum that love an easy meal. Therefore there is an extensive anti-predator programme with many volunteers setting traps, placing of bait and checking for predators. The predators that are trapped will be killed.
When you don't like to do much walking, which I did because I felt a little under the weather, you can always go to the café. It has a good choice of food and beverages, but more importantly it has a terrace with outdoor seating which overlooks the large enclosure with two takahe. Artificially breeding the takahe was more or less the reason why the Wildlife Centre was established in this area in the 1960s, but they have stopped breeding these endangered birds. Still they have two takahe living at the Centre, mostly for educational purposes.
The viewing deck of the café is a place to enjoy your lunch, relax and watch the takahe if they're out there. But when the free roaming kaka (bush parrots) are fully awake you have to be very alert, because the kaka love to steal some food of your plate. These cheeky birds 'terrorise' the terrace (see video), therefore every table is provided with a 'kaka repellent spray gun', which is just plain water in a hand sprayer. But it works to keep the birds at a little distance. All this makes it easy to spend a few enjoyable hours on the terrace.
Captive-breeding results
The track record of captive-breeding at the National Wildlife Centre (NWC) is convincingly good when you know that they could terminate several breeding programmes. These programmes were considered completed due to the self-sustaining populations that were achieved after reintroduction of captive-bred individuals. Several major captive breeding programmes have recently been completed at NWC, including termination of the Campbell Island teal and North Island kokako breeding programmes following advice from their respective recovery groups. Captive-reared shore plover, mainly from NWC, were also successfully used to establish a self-sustaining population on an island off the east coast of the North Island following releases during 1998-2004. The shore plover captive-breeding for release programme has now shifted focus to Mana Island, with the first birds released in 2007. (Pukaha Mount Bruce captive management Programmes, Miskelly - 2008)
In 1996, nine juvenile kākā were released into the Pukaha Mount Bruce forest, in eastern Wairarapa, from where this North Island sub-species had been absent for nearly 50 years. They were a combination of hand-reared birds from the Pukaha Mount Bruce National Wildlife Centre and wild ones from Kapiti Island, near Wellington. This was the first time captive-bred kākā had been released into the wild and the first relocation of wild kākā. The kākā project is part of pioneering species management work at the centre.
When you're interested in how a North Island kākā sounds like:
(Source: Department of Conservation website)
Conclusion
For a foreigner (or pakahe as they say in New Zealand) visiting from Europe the Mount Bruce National Wildlife Centre has many exotic species on display, but that is obviously not their main objective. Their conservation efforts on native New Zealand species only is to be applauded I think, because the population of these indigenous species comprise the total number of these species worldwide. There is no rescue population available outside New Zealand. They have successfully bred several species in captivity and reintroduced them in the wild.
Education is an important part of their mission. They have succeeded in creating a good mix of educational materials addressing children and adults alike at the visitor's centre, while inviting all to explore the native forest and seek out the many birds.
Gallery
Video
A cheeky Kaka
When having something to drink or eat on the terrace of the café at the Mount Bruce wildlife centre they warn you about the inquisitive Kakas (Nestor meridionalis) that fly around freely in the area. They even put Kaka repellent on the table, that visitors may use to protect themselves from those cheeky birds. Well, they're right! Even when you are warned they sneak upon you and try to steal your food. Let's put it like this - those birds keep you busy!
(By the way, the repellent is just plain water in a hand sprayer)
White Kiwi
The footage shot in the nocturnal house shows a female North Island brown kiwi (Apterix mantelli), but with a white colour. She is not an albino, she is white because both her parents carry the rare recessive gene that results in reduced pigmentation of the feathers making them white - this is known as leucism. This is quite an extraordinary trait which makes this kiwi a special attraction. She was nearly 4 years old when I visited the wildlife centre. In the wild she would easily be noticed by predators in her white plumage at night, and as a nocturnal species she would never had reached this age without the regular brown camouflage colour.
Manukura the little white kiwi
(Source: Pukaha Mount Bruce YouTube channel)
More info
Takahē
Takahē conservation
The takahē (Porphyrio hochstetteri) or notornis is a large, non-passerine, flightless rail (a land-based relative of our familiar coot and moorhen) from New Zealand. Many species similar to this went extinct in the tropical Pacific in the years following first colonisation of their island homes by humans, due to over-hunting and deforestation. The takahē survived because New Zealand is a large, mountainous and wet island, which as a result suffered less deforestation, and had more places for birds to hide from hunters1. Even so, for 50 years it was thought to be extinct until a small population was discovered still alive in 1948 in the remote Murchison Mountains.
It was Geoffrey Orbell, a medical doctor and keen tramper, who rediscovered - together with his three companions - the takahē in Fiordland's Murchison Mountains on New Zealand's South Island. At the time it was estimated there could be about 500 birds in that mountain range, but in 1952 when they revisited the area they thought the population size had fallen to about 300 birds. Whatever caused the decrease, for instance competition for food with red deer, it deemed necessary to start a captive breeding programme to save the takahē from the brink of extinction.
In November 1948 New Zealand got its own Lost World story, when a population of takahē — a large flightless rail, long thought extinct — was found in a remote part of Fiordland. The rediscovery of 'notornis' (a cousin of the pūkeko), by Southland doctor Geoffrey Orbell, generated international interest. This episode of the National Film Unit's Weekly Review newsreel series treks from Lake Te Anau high into the Murchison Mountains, where the team (including naturalist Robert Falla) find sea shell fossils, evidence of moa-hunter campsites, and the dodo-like takahē itself:
(Source: archivesnz YouTube channel)
When the government in 1957 decided to begin a captive breeding programme with the recently rediscovered takahē, the Wildlife Service contacted Elwyn Welch. Welch was one of New Zealand's leading amateur ornithologists and had practical experience in raising endangered bird species. An extensive plan was developed to bring young chicks out of the Fiordland's Murchison Mountains on New Zealand's South Island where the takahē were rediscovered. Welch trained bantam hens to raise pūkeko chicks. The bantams were also trained to sit on eggs no matter what happened. The hens were placed in special nest boxes with dummy eggs and transported around the farm's premises on the back of a truck, on a tractor or in a rucksack - for the hens to get used to the long and rough trip ahead. In 1958 the bantams were taken to Fiordland. First they collected takahē eggs in the Murchison Mountains, but this wasn't very successful. So, they decided to seek out chicks instead. They captured four chicks, which the bantams readily mothered. These hens returned as foster-mothers to 'Kelvin Grove', Welch's farm on the North Island with four takahē chicks under their wings. The entire operation was undertaken in absolute secrecy and even got a code-name, Operation Password. Welch and his two assistants, Gordon Williams from the Wildlife Service and Peter Morrison from the National Film Unit, travelled under assumed names, and even when the chicks were safely back at Mount Bruce their exact location was kept secret.
The project was an absolute success, with over 13,000 people visiting Kelvin Grove when the artificially bred takahē were first displayed to the public in 1960. In fact, the number of visitors were so large that the display was closed after only a fortnight.
When takahē were chosen for the captive breeding programme very little was known about the bird's diet, breeding biology or nesting habits. Achieving success required stamina and many years before pioneering results could be recorded. The lessons learnt told that it was best to try and establish small populations on predator free off-shore islands.
The main captive breeding of takahē is now located at Burwood Bush near Te Anau, close to the Murchison Mountains. This small mountain range, the last refuge of takahē in the wild, still is the only recovery site in the Takahē Recovery Programme. A recovery site is a large area containing the necessities for a natural life - typical takahē habitat, control of introduced predators allowing the bird population to become self-sustaining.
Currently, the takahē pair at Mount Bruce National Wildlife Centre are held for educational rather than breeding purposes. But they did save the rare genes of the takahē here at Mount Bruce!
Hunters that don't see any difference between takahē and pūkeko
A most peculiar and unfortunate thing happened on 17 August 2015 when hunters by mistake shot four takahē. The hunters were contracted by the Department of Conservation (DOC) to carry out a cull of pūkeko, a non-endangered, very common relative of the takahē, on a sanctuary on Motutapu Island in Auckland's Hauraki Gulf. The cull of pūkeko was organised because of the damage they cause to the nests and eggs of threatened species. The DOC has said that hunters had been carefully briefed on how to differentiate between the species, with takahē about twice the size of pūkeko, and flightless. So, the hunters had also been instructed to only shoot birds on the wing.
1 Duncan et al., 2013. Magnitude and variations of prehistoric bird extinctions in the Pacific. PNAS (doi: 10.1073/pnas.1216511110)
(Source: Wikipedia; Elwyn Owen Arnold Welch from Teara - the encyclopedia of New Zealand; Mount Bruce National Wildlife Centre by Colin Scadden, 2000; Takahē recovery website; The Guardian news, 21.05.2016)
Elwyn Welch (1925-1961)
Elwyn Owen Arnold Welch was a farmer's son born in Masterton, New Zealand, on 13 January 1925. The Welch family farmed Kelvin Grove on the northern flanks of Mount Bruce. Elwyn took over Kelvin Grove when his parents shifted to an adjoining property they had recently purchased.
Although Elwyn ran the farm more or less successfully, he preferred to go tramping in the countryside. Birds were his passion, in particular the species he was familiar with from the long walks. And so he became one of New Zealand's leading amateur ornithologists. By the mid 1950s, having raised grey teal chicks by hand, his practical conservation earned him respect and made him an expert in raising endangered bird species.
When the government in 1957 decided to begin a captive breeding programme with the recently rediscovered takahē, the Wildlife Service contacted Welch. An extensive plan was developed to bring young chicks out of the Fiordland's Murchison Mountains on New Zealand's South Island where the takahē were rediscovered. Welch trained bantam hens to raise pūkeko chicks. The bantams were also trained to sit on eggs no matter what happened. The hens were placed in special nest boxes with dummy eggs and transported around the farm's premises on the back of a truck, on a tractor or in a rucksack - for the hens to get used to the long and rough trip ahead. In 1958 the bantams were taken to Fiordland, and returned as foster-mothers to the North Island with takahē chicks under their wings.
The project was an absolute success, with over 13,000 people visiting Kelvin Grove when the artificially bred takahē were first displayed to the public in 1960. In fact, the number of visitors were so large that the display was closed after only a fortnight. In addition the Wildlife Service initiated a further breeding programme with kākāpō. So, early 1961 a number of birds were captured in Fiordland and taken to Kelvin Grove as well. This attempt failed miserably, mainly because of the lack of information about the kākāpō diet.
Despite his success as an ornithologist, Elwyn Welch felt the call to follow another of his passions. He and his wife Shirley decided to take their children to Nigeria to work for the Sudan Interior Mission. But not before the government, which had been searching for a base to establish a breeding programme for native birds, purchased Kelvin Grove. So, in April 1961 the Welches left for Nigeria. There, they ran a guest house for missionaries based in the interior of the country, as well as undertaking preaching duties. Unfortunately, Elwyn Welch contracted bulbar poliomyelitis, and on 10 December 1961, just seven months after leaving Wairarapa, he died at Jos, Nigeria, aged 36. He was survived by his wife, two daughters and a son.
The Wildlife Service continued the breeding programme at the farm for another two years, but in 1963 it was decided to move to the Mount Bruce Forest Reserve, where the Mount Bruce National Wildlife Centre was established.
Elwyn Welch's contribution to conservation is celebrated in Mount Bruce National Wildlife Centre, just two kilometres from Kelvin Grove. He is remembered for both his passions - New Zealand's avifauna and his firm Christian faith including missionary work.
(Source: Elwyn Owen Arnold Welch from Teara - the encyclopedia of New Zealand; Mount Bruce National Wildlife Centre by Colin Scadden, 2000)
Zoo details
Some additional information, such as contact details and involvement in breeding programmes.
Location
Directions
directions to Mount Bruce National Wildlife Centre, Pukaha Mount Bruce
The Mount Bruce National Wildlife Centre is located on State Highway 2 between Masterton in the Wairarapa (approximately 30 km) and Eketahuna in the Tararua district (approximately 10 km). This is toward the east coast, on New Zealand's North Island.
Address:
85379 State Highway 2
5881
Mount Bruce
New Zealand
public transport
Train
If you are coming from Wellington, you can take the train to Masterton and then either take a taxi to Pukaha Mount Bruce or use a rental car.
Train timetable is as follows:
Monday to Friday
Depart Wellington 8.25am Arrive Masterton 10.00am
Depart Masterton 3.40pm Arrive Wellington 5.17pm
Saturday, Sunday and Public Holidays
Depart Wellington 9.55am Arrive Masterton 11.30am
Depart Masterton 4.50pm Arrive Wellington 6.25pm
For more details on train timetables and fares, visit www.metlink.org.nz
Bus
Tranzit Coachlines operates a bus service from Masterton to Palmerston North and can set down or pick reserved passengers at Pukaha Mount Bruce
Tuesday to Friday
Departs Masterton 9.05am arrives Pukaha Mount Bruce 9.20am (continuing to Palmerston North arriving 11.00am)
Departs Pukaha Mount Bruce 4.25pm arriving Masterton 4.55pm
Reservations are essential please phone 06 3706600 or email
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by bicycle
For those cyclists that are addicted to using their bicycle I would say 'go for it'. It really depends on where you start of course, but you are in for a few kilometres on the road. A road that is being used by heavy traffic as well. It will be a rather flat ride along this part of State Highway 2 with great views on the hilly countryside.
by car
It takes about 2 hours to drive from Wellington and about the same from Napier. It takes approximately 1 hour to drive from Palmerston North. Especially the route from Palmerston North through the Manawatu gorge is very scenic.
There's free parking available.
Zoo map
Download the zoo map here.
