Animal collection

New additions
A number of new species were added to the collection during the year.

Highlights were:

• In a story with a happy outcome, Sean, a Malayan sun bear rescued from Cambodia in 1998 by Free the Bears, was successfully introduced in February to our female sun bear, Chomel. Sean lived at Perth Zoo before being transferred to Wellington, and he is part of an international breeding programme aimed at preventing the species' extinction. These charming inhabitants of South East Asia are endangered in the wild because of deforestation, the pet trade, and farming for bile collection.
  
  
• Male lion cubs, Zulu and Malik arrived from Auckland Zoo in December, and two male otters, Jak'ura from Auckland Zoo and Oscar from Willowbank Wildlife Reserve, arrived around the turn of the year.
  
  
• The male cheetah cubs, Delta and Charlie, arrived in March from South Africa.
  
  
• Five new meerkats arrived in May and moved into their enclosure in the middle of the Zoo, and the newly arrived serval male moved into the revamped old red panda enclosure, awaiting the female, who will be introduced to him over the next few months in the hope that these two will breed.
  
  
• Two pairs of cockatoos arrived (red tailed black and Major Mitchell's), two male chinchillas joined the Living Room team, and one morepork (ruru) joined our nocturnal house, Te Ao Maahina (the Twilight).
  

Species removed
A number of species were dropped from the collection. We continued our programme of rationalising the bird collection, and removed several species represented by single animals, through swapping and attrition.

• The most significant mammal species loss occurred when our camel Cairo was euthanased in October. The Zoo has had camels for most of its existence and Cairo was the last. Bred at Auckland Zoo in 1986 and hand-raised in their pet area, he related strongly to humans. In later years he developed osteoarthritis and suffered severe, chronic and untreatable arthrosis.
  
  
• Our last two non-breeding male black stilts (kaki) died in October. Wellington Zoo and the Kiwi and Birdlife Park in Queenstown were the only institutions displaying the kaki, the rarest of New Zealand's mainland wading birds. Our three were bred at the Department of Conservation's Twizel black stilt facility and were at the Zoo for advocacy purposes only. Both males died of Aspergillus infection of the respiratory system. The female was sent back to the facility to be part of the breeding programme.
  
  
• The three male and one female thar were euthanased because they'd been exposed to Johne's disease. This disease is common in hoof stock and causes painful chronic inflammation of the gut. The two female barbary sheep who shared the enclosure were also euthanased. All other Zoo hoof stock were tested for this condition and the results were negative.
  
  
• One of our adult male chimpanzees succumbed to an acute liver failure within a matter of days. The reason for this dramatic decline of liver function has not yet been established.
  

Breeding
A number of species reproduced during the year.

• The most exciting success was the Campbell Island teal, a critically endangered species numbering fewer than 20 individuals in the wild. They live on Dent Island, which is little more than a tiny "rock" in the sub-Antarctic.
  
  
• Other successful bird hatchings included our native red crowned kakariki, and buff banded rail, the exotic Monal pheasant, maroon-bellied conure, and Mandarin duck.
  
  
• In December a healthy male baby was born to Jackie, one of our Hamadryas baboons.
  
  
• In addition, the tuatara, little red fruit bats, cichlids, and axolotls all bred successfully.
  

Collection planning
The Zoo is an important participant in the Australasian Species Management Program (ASMP) run by the Australasian Regional Association of Zoos, Parks and Aquaria (ARAZPA), and many Zoo crew have taken on additional responsibilities over the course of the year.

Adhering to the new Strategic Plan, the small project team is continuing work on the collection plan. As we stated last year, this task offers a major challenge for New Zealand zoos. The essential Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) approvals for importing new species and new individuals of existing species are complicated to process and uncertain of success. In addition, endangered species are notoriously difficult to obtain. Consequently, our plan must be able to be modified in response to species availability.

We have also made significant progress in our working relationship with MAF on Import Health Standards. We now have an Import Health Standard for Southern African porcupines from the United Kingdom and hoofed stock from the USA, Canada, and South Africa.

Working alongside the Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA) we also received approval to import leopards and wombats, although we are still consulting with MAF to obtain an Import Health Standard for the latter.

Facilitated research
We are still hosting a postgraduate project focused on our chimpanzee group. "Preference and Demand Procedures out of the Lab and Applied to Enrichment", examines the chimpanzees' priorities and uses them to improve their physical and behavioural well-being. An earlier project – "Are you My Daddy?" completed in November 2004 – determined the paternity of our young chimpanzees, enabling us to determine which animals would be useful for future breeding. Our chimpanzee group is renowned in the zoo world for being high-functioning with a large number of adult males. Such a group is not easy to manage and we hope these research projects will help us improve the lives of this popular species both here and elsewhere in the Australasian region.

Several shorter projects were conducted on aggression in baboons, anti-predator behaviour in tuatara, and food preferences in kaka.

Veterinary advances

Collaborative research
The "Comparative facial anatomy of Southern Ocean Ziphiidae (family of Beaked whales)" is an important cooperative project between the Wellington Zoo, Pacific Radiology and the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Three rare species of whale, Andrew's beaked, Gray's beaked and dense beaked whale have been examined using CT and MRI technology. This world-first study is part of a project investigating the comparative facial anatomy of Southern ocean beaked whales and will contribute to international studies of the ears of these very rarely seen and enigmatic species.

Another innovative joint science project, led by Te Papa and the Zoo, and in association with the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary, Victoria University and the Department of Conservation, is based on the kereru, the native wood pigeon. Three separate projects will explore the importance of the spreading of seeds, the introduction of pests, and the consequences thereof. These will be stand-alone studies, which will combine to tell a very informative story.

Landcare Research is conducting the first large-scale screening of feral and native birds for avian malaria in New Zealand in over 50 years. The Wellington Zoo provided samples for this major study.

During the year we took advantage of Pacific Radiology's sponsorship to help Department of Conservation staff identify subspecies of dogfish, using radiographic films.

The living tuatara anatomy programme continues as a joint project between the Zoo and Pacific Radiology. Little is known about the anatomy of live tuatara and with this project we will develop baseline data for better diagnostics in future.

Massey University is still investigating the sudden otter deaths, in cooperation with Hamilton, Auckland and Wellington Zoos. No cause has yet been found. These mysterious deaths have occurred among small-clawed otter populations in all the main North Island zoos over the past twelve years.

New hospital
We are making progress on our exciting and long-overdue Wildlife and Exotic Animal Hospital, and have held the first planning meetings with architects Warren and Mahoney. The hospital is to be centrally located and is intended to become a fascinating part of the visitors' experience.

Animal training and conditioning programme
This programme continues to be very successful, and has significantly reduced the need for anaesthetics to be administered to a number of species. As a consequence, it has lowered the risks associated with medical interventions, considerably simplified regular health monitoring, and has reduced stress levels for both animals and staff. Visitors are able to attend some of these sessions.

The training is proceeding so well that the lion cubs are already opening their mouths when signalled and accepting vaccinations and injections. Staff are now able to worm and vaccinate all three adult female lions, leading up to taking blood. They can now take blood from the two adult giraffes and we hope will be able to carry out artificial insemination. Many other animals are now comfortable being weighed, presenting limbs and other parts of their bodies for inspection, and entering transportation crates.

Horticultural development

The important Strategic Plan policy for complementary horticultural design – such as the new red panda enclosure – has been applied to several projects this year. In a sort of animal musical chairs, the horticulture team redeveloped and upgraded the old serval enclosure to house the two new cheetahs, and the old red panda enclosure was redeveloped and improved for the male serval.

Besides carrying out general maintenance of enclosure habitats and regular monitoring of the health of big trees to avoid falling limbs, the team began site preparation for the new African savannah – to be home for the giraffes, zebras, and ostriches. Much of this work has been aided by generous contributions from local companies.