There are only around 400 kākāriki karaka, or orange-fronted parakeets left in New Zealand. File photo Photo: Sean McGrath
Conservationists have set their sights on a new home for New Zealand's rarest parakeet species, to help boost its population.
The Department of Conservation and Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu are proposing that Pukenui Island in Fiordland becomes a new habitat for kākāriki karaka, or orange-fronted parakeets.
DOC's kākāriki karaka operations manager, Wayne Beggs, said there were only about four-hundred of the birds left in the country and establishing a population on the island would be significant to their recovery.
"On the mainland they're really vulnerable to predators so it's quite a lot of effort to protect them from rats and stoats especially."
Beggs hoped the parakeets could be released at Pukenui Island in spring 2024.