David Butler

Don Merton

How can you save a bird species from extinction when there are only five individuals left, with just one breeding pair? That was the problem that faced a team from the New Zealand Wildlife Service in 1980, when the outlook for the Chatham Island black robin seemed desperate. Don Merton and his team took the daring step of cross-fostering eggs and young to another species to boost productivity and it worked. A pair of robins, Old Blue and Old Yellow, with the help of Merton and his team and the foster species, the Chatham Island tits, saved the species. Now, more than ten years later, there are over 100 birds. or those involved with the management of endangered species, it demonstrates that recovery is possible even in the most extreme case. The innovative techniques developed for the black robin programme are here described in detail for the first time so that other wildlife biologists can adapt them to their needs.

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