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Seventy-three Tuatara flew from Southland to Nelson on a dedicated charter flight to their new home in the Marlborough Sounds.
The Takapourewa / Stephens Island tuátara comes from the Southland Art Gallery and Museum and has been added to wild tuna populations in two Marlborough Sounds reserves.
The famous tuataras Henry, Lucy and Mildred remain in the Southland Museum, along with 14 other tuataras.
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Ngāti Koata iwi, guardians of the taonga species, Kāi Tahu ki Murihiku / Ngāi Tahu papatū rūnaka ki Murihiku, Invercargill City Council, the Department of Conservation, Victoria University of Wellington and Wellington Zoo, including veterinarians and tuatara specialists, They have worked together to move the Tuataras back to their ancestral land.
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A Southland-raised tuatara in a travel tube. The Tuatara have a new home in Marlborough Sounds.
All tuatara were bred by Invercargill City Council Chief Live Species Officer – tuatara, Lindsay Hazley, who has been in her role working with tuatara for 50 years.
Hazley, in a statement, said he was excited that the Taonga were now able to return to their natural environment.
“In recent years, new partnerships have been forged with Ngāti Koata and Ngāi Tahu, which has meant that we can return these very special creatures to their ancestral home.
“It is the absolute end goal for anyone in my line of work: to see a species not only survive, but also thrive in captivity to a point where we can now return it to the nature where it belongs.”
The tuátara was traveling in the cabin of Air New Zealand flight NZ8952, wrapped in special transport tubes sized to suit each individual.
Lynn Adams, leader of the DOC Tuatara recovery group, thanked Southland for the dedicated care of the tuatara.
Invercargill City Council staff member Zealan Simpkins, who is also Ngāti Koata, said in a statement: “This is very special to me, as I am of Ngāti Koata descent, this translocation process allows me to reconnect with our taonga – being the tuatara, my whanau, hau kāinga and the people of Southland. “
