In a landmark moment for conservation in Aotearoa, RealNZ has announced a plan to translocate kiwi pukupuku/little spotted kiwi from Kapiti Island to Ao-ata-te-pō Cooper Island in Tamatea Dusky Sound. The planned translocation, due in 2028, signals a new frontier in conservation – reintroducing this species to a site where predators are actively managed but is not fully predator-free; behind fences or on offshore sanctuaries.
Since 2015, RealNZ has independently led the predator trapping programme on Ao-ata-te-pō Cooper Island under a Community Agreement with the Department of Conservation, making four to six annual trips to check and reset traps. It has been sustained, boots-on-the-ground conservation – funded and driven by RealNZ's own team and supporters.
Ao-ata-te-pō Cooper Island's proximity to the mainland means it can never be fully predator-free – key predators can swim the distance. But with a decade of relentless trapping to suppress predator numbers and a strong commitment to future management by RealNZ, DOC has approved the translocation of kiwi pukupuku to the island – a significant vote of confidence in the work RealNZ has led.
“This is a genuine full-circle moment for our team, and for Fiordland,” says RealNZ CEO, Dave Beeche.
“Ten years ago, we committed to doing the hard, unglamorous work of predator control on Ao-ata-te-pō Cooper Island. That mahi, together with future management, will create the conditions for kiwi pukupuku to live on a predator-suppressed island for the first time. Now, working alongside DOC and iwi on the translocation itself, we have an opportunity to push the boundaries of what conservation partnership in Aotearoa can look like.
“Our purpose is to help the world fall in love with conservation, and this is that purpose in action.”
To fund the translocation and the ongoing conservation work that underpins it, RealNZ is relaunching its Real Promise – donating 1% of all online booking revenue to the kiwi pukupuku recovery project until the end of September. The project will also be supported by RealNZ’s annual Night for Nature black tie event, staff-led fundraising, and the wider Queenstown and Te Anau community. RealNZ will also throw its weight behind the kiwi pukupuku in this year’s Bird of the Year competition.
DOC Southern South Island Regional Director Aaron Fleming says the translocation is a great example of the impact of businesses, iwi, DOC and many others working together can achieve.
"Working together means we can do more for the special places and species of Aotearoa New Zealand. RealNZ have put in many years of hard work into the foundations of this project and we are excited to see kiwi pukupuku restored to Ao-ata-te-pō Cooper Island."
Kiwi pukupuku were once widespread across mainland New Zealand but are now largely restricted to offshore islands and predator-free fenced sanctuaries. The birds to be translocated will come from Kapiti Island, home to the largest kiwi pukupuku population in the country. Their arrival on Ao-ata-te-pō Cooper Island will represent not just a conservation win, but a significant moment in the long-term vision that Fiordland will once again ring loud with the call of this taonga species.
“Kiwi Pukupuku are a taonga tuku iho, carrying the mauri and whakapapa of our ngahere and of Ngāi Tahu. Their return to Ao-ata-te-pō is not simply a conservation milestone – it is the restoration of an ancestral relationship that has endured across generations,” says Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu Whakapapa Manager, Arapata Reuben.
“Before Kiwi Pukupuku were thought to be lost from Te Waipounamu, five birds were taken from Ōkahu/Jackson Bay to Kapiti Island in 1912. Those manu have carried our whakapapa through time, and this return of their uri to the Takiwa of Ngai Tahu is a reconnection of that living whakapapa back to its whenua,” says Rueben.
“RealNZ’s decade of commitment to this kaupapa, the many conversations held with Te Rūnanga and ngā Papatipu Rūnanga over time, have helped build the trust and shared vision that underpins this mahi. This translocation speaks to an important shift – moving beyond isolated sanctuaries and towards restoring balance within whole ecosystems. It recognises that with sustained kaitiakitanga, commitment, and collective effort, our taonga species can once again inhabit their natural landscapes.”
Find out more about RealNZ’s conservation projects at realnz.com/conservation.