Brown teal  (Anas chlorotis)

Although the Maori killed brown teal in very large numbers, when European settlers arrived in New Zealand in 1840, it was still the most abundant waterfowl species in the country. Europeans also hunted the brown teal excessively, but it was the introduction of stoats, weasels, ferrets, hedgehogs, cats and dogs that caused the first major decline of this species. In 1921 the brown teal was declared a protected species, but shooting continued, and was compounded by extensive drainage of wetlands and deforestation, leaving less than 10% of wetlands and 30% of native forests (3). The brown teal population stands today at just under 1,000 individuals (5).

The New Zealand Department of Conservation has produced a brown teal recovery plan which is now in action. Five full time staff and a large team of volunteers monitor the ducks and control predators (3) (5). They also oversee a captive breeding programme and the resulting reintroductions. This programme has been extremely successful in producing captive-reared birds – for every bird taken from the wild, 21.5 have been bred and released, bringing the total number of reintroduced brown teal to 2000 since 1964 (3). Improvements in release techniques using supplementary feeders post-release, and predator control at the release site has increased initial post-release survival rates to more than 60% (5). The captive breeding network in New Zealand consists of 20 holders, made up of wildlife parks, zoos and private individuals, on a completely voluntary basis with no financial support. These collectively produce approximately 100 brown teal for release into the wild each year. This programme is now in the third year of releasing the birds into a major release site in Port Charles, Coromandel, which has proved very successful with 60 – 70 percent survival rate of released birds, which are now breeding and producing young in the wild themselves (5).