Bird flu gloom looms over Sanctuary Mountain

Wednesday, 22 July 2026

The bird flu threat looms over Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari.

A Waikato eco-sanctuary home to some of New Zealand’s rarest birds says it’s been preparing for bird flu for more than a year, but the disease’s arrival leaves native wildlife, and tourism at risk.

Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari chief executive Helen Hughes said the first confirmed H5 bird flu case in New Zealand was “not unexpected”, after 18 to 24 months of preparation with the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) and Department of Conservation.

“We’ve been tracking its progress, learning from other countries on what they’ve done and what’s worked,” Hughes said.

“We’ve had a plan in place and all the PPE in place over the last six months.”

Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari says its well prepared for bird flu but outside influences are concerning for native bids like the kakapo.

New Zealand’s first H5 bird flu detection was confirmed on July 15, in a single brown skua found at Petone Beach in Wellington. A second case was confirmed on July 17 in a single kāhu, or swamp harrier, found in the Wairarapa.

Biosecurity New Zealand said as of July 21, there had been no further H5 detections since July 17, and no detections in poultry.

But Hughes said Maungatautari was on high alert because the sanctuary holds important populations of native birds, including kākāpō, a thriving kākā population, takahē, hihi and kiwi.

Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari is still open for tourists with safety protocols in place, says chief executive Helen Hughes.

She said one of the sanctuary’s biggest risks could be kākā, because the birds could move between the sanctuary and urban or coastal areas where other birds congregate.

“I see them as being high risk for bringing them back into the sanctuary,” she said.

“Do I feel like we’re prepared? Yes, we’re very well prepared. Do we know everything? No, we don’t know.”

Hughes said the sanctuary had protocols that could expand depending on the level of risk and number of cases being seen nationally.

Staff and volunteers were already using PPE for some supplementary feeding, including for takahē and hihi, but those arrangements might change if the threat increased.

The latest strain of bird flu has arrived in New Zealand, and while it usually hits flocking birds harder, all native species are vunerable.

Hughes said the disease could also affect long-running conservation work, including kiwi translocation programmes.

“Although kiwi might be relatively low risk, because they’re not a bird that naturally flocks, it still is risk,” she said.

Hughes said the sanctuary had also been working closely with mana whenua and local iwi.

She said birds that died of natural causes inside the sanctuary would usually be given to mana whenua for uses including weaving, but that practice would stop where bird flu risk was present.

The sanctuary had contacted neighbouring landowners, including any poultry farmers, asking them to alert Maungatautari if bird flu was detected nearby, and Hughes said the sanctuary would do the same for surrounding farmers if it had a case.

She said visitors should not be put off coming to the sanctuary, which relies on tourism income to help fund its conservation work.

“We want to make sure people know that we’re still open and that we have protocols in place,” she said.

MPI advice is that people should not touch sick or dead wild birds, and sightings of three or more sick or dead wild birds in a group should be reported to the exotic pest and disease hotline on 0800 80 99 66.

“Take reasonable precautions,” Hughes said.

“If you find a bird that’s dead, don’t pick it up. Don’t touch it.”