Do your bit for native wildlife

Thursday, 27 April 2006

Do your bit for native wildlife on International Biodiversity Day - Monday May 22

Did you know that May 22 is International Biodiversity Day? If the answer is no, you are certainly not alone. With a full calendar of UN-sanctioned ‘days’, it is understandable that some ‘good causes’ fall off the radar. But as the ‘extinction capital of the world’ (Sunday Star Times April 23 2006), New Zealand of all places should make a point of observing this day.

Half of our native bird species have already been wiped out and many more are now threatened with extinction. However, it’s not too late to make a difference. On Monday May 22, you are invited to join Karori Wildlife Sanctuary on its first ever street collection, and help to raise much-needed funds to support the continued restoration of native flora and fauna.

Sanctuary CEO Nancy McIntosh-Ward says “The diversity and uniqueness of New Zealand’s native wildlife is one of our country’s greatest assets, and we owe it both to ourselves and our children, to protect and preserve what’s left. This street collection is important not only to raise money for the vital work we do here at the Sanctuary, but also to raise awareness about the grave threats to New Zealand’s biodiversity.”

If you want to do your bit for biodiversity, the Sanctuary is still looking for volunteers to help with the street collection. They will be collecting in all the major centre around the Wellington Region and would love to hear from anybody who can spare an hour or two on 22 May. Please contact the Sanctuary on 920 9200 or email helpers@sanctuary.org.nz for further information.

The Sanctuary, which celebrated its tenth anniversary last year, is a safehaven for some of our rarest wildlife, including birds and reptiles found nowhere else in the wild on mainland New Zealand. Visitors are able to experience sights and sounds that have all but vanished since the introduction of pest mammals like possums and stoats, and the fragmentation of our forests, devastated native bird and reptile populations.

ENDS

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