From the New Zealand Herald:
DoC declares South Island kokako ‘extinct’
Tuesday January 16, 2007
By Kent Atkinson
Conservation officials today formally declared the South Island kokako extinct, saying there had been no confirmed sightings for 40 years.
Rod Hitchmough, a scientific officer at the Department of Conservation (DoC) told a press briefing in Wellington that the kokako decision had attracted controversy.
“But the definition of extinct is that we are absolutely certain the last individual has died,” said Mr Hitchmough, who compiled DOC’s latest lists of threatened species, including six native insects and snails also declared extinct.
“It was last seen on the South Island in 1967,” he said.
There had been further reports on Stewart Island in 1987 and other more recent sightings, but these had not been corroborated.
Hear the call of the kokako here.
Conservation Minister Chris Carter told the Wellington briefing that the new threatened species list updated the “threat classification” status of 5819 of New Zealand’s native plants and animals, and 44 had been given a change in status.
Almost half of those were listed in one of the seven threatened categories, and the rest required further research to determine if these were threatened or not.
“Some have improved, like the crested grebe and black petrel, others, such as the grey duck and riflemen are more endangered,” Mr Carter said.
Search for the South Island kokako: here.
[Northern] Kokako reintroduced into New Zealand’s Doubtful Sound: here.
Kokako released in Auckland’s ‘Ark in the Park’: here.
First Kokako chicks born to newly translocated population in Central New Zealand: here.
Nearly extinct animal species in the world: here.
Stewart Island possum control: here.
Dear Kitty. Some blog 
Scientists try to save world’s rarest creatures
Reuters, 16 february 2007
By Jeremy Lovell
LONDON (Reuters) – Scientists launched a bid on Tuesday to save some of the world’s rarest and most neglected creatures from extinction.
With an initial list of just 10 — including a venomous shrew-like creature, an egg-laying mammal and the world’s smallest bat — the programme will give last ditch conservation aid where to date there has been little or none.
“We are focusing on EDGE species — that means they are Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered,” said Zoological Society of London scientist Jonathan Baillie.
“These are one-of-a-kind species. If they are lost there is nothing similar to them left on the planet. It would be a bit like the art world losing the Mona Lisa — they are simply irreplaceable,” he told Reuters.
Not only are the target species unique, the project itself is breaking new ground by using the Internet to highlight threatened creatures and encourage the public to sponsor conservation.
“This is appealing to the general public to take action to reverse the decline of these amazing species,” Baillie said.
Global warming and human depredations on habitat are cited as root causes of the problem and Baillie said the top creature on the agenda, the Yangtze River dolphin, may already have disappeared.
Listed on the Web site http://www.zsl.org/edge as being down to just 13 individuals, scientists visiting the area recently had not seen any. “This really highlights the importance of acting quickly,” Baillie said.
EDGE species include the rather more iconic — and recognisable — elephants and pandas — but the London Zoo project is also aiming far smaller.
The list includes the bumblebee bat, the Hispaniolan solenodon and the golden-rumped elephant shrew, but Baillie hopes to save far more.
“Our goal is to ensure that over the next five years there are conservation measures in place for the top 100 species,” Baillie said. “We have 10 species we are focusing on this year but that will change over time.”
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The link between Mind and Social / Environmental-Issues.
The fast-paced, consumerist lifestyle of Industrial Society is causing exponential rise in psychological problems besides destroying the environment. All issues are interlinked. Our Minds cannot be peaceful when attention-spans are down to nanoseconds, microseconds and milliseconds. Our Minds cannot be peaceful if we destroy Nature.
Industrial Society Destroys Mind and Environment.
Subject : In a fast society slow emotions become extinct.
Subject : A thinking mind cannot feel.
Subject : Scientific/ Industrial/ Financial thinking destroys the planet.
Subject : Environment can never be saved as long as cities exist.
Emotion is what we experience during gaps in our thinking.
If there are no gaps there is no emotion.
Today people are thinking all the time and are mistaking thought (words/ language) for emotion.
When society switches-over from physical work (agriculture) to mental work (scientific/ industrial/ financial/ fast visuals/ fast words ) the speed of thinking keeps on accelerating and the gaps between thinking go on decreasing.
There comes a time when there are almost no gaps.
People become incapable of experiencing/ tolerating gaps.
Emotion ends.
Man becomes machine.
A society that speeds up mentally experiences every mental slowing-down as Depression / Anxiety.
A ( travelling )society that speeds up physically experiences every physical slowing-down as Depression / Anxiety.
A society that entertains itself daily experiences every non-entertaining moment as Depression / Anxiety.
FAST VISUALS /WORDS MAKE SLOW EMOTIONS EXTINCT.
SCIENTIFIC /INDUSTRIAL /FINANCIAL THINKING DESTROYS EMOTIONAL CIRCUITS.
A FAST (LARGE) SOCIETY CANNOT FEEL PAIN / REMORSE / EMPATHY.
A FAST (LARGE) SOCIETY WILL ALWAYS BE CRUEL TO ANIMALS/ TREES/ AIR/ WATER/ LAND AND TO ITSELF.
To read the complete article please follow either of these links :
PlanetSave
EarthNewsWire
sushil_yadav
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Hi Sushil, thanks for commenting! Personally, I think the argument you put forward more or less leaves (capitalist) property relations (which may lead to overworked workers etc.) off the hook. “Scientific/ Industrial/ Financial thinking”: I think there you lump various issues together without explanation.
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Kokako’s haunting song back in forest
Kiri Gillespie | 30th August 2010
The song of one of New Zealand’s most musical native birds sounded once again through Otanewainuku forest at the weekend.
Department of Conservation staff and Otanewainuku Kiwi Trust volunteers completed a “translocation”, which saw five kokako birds released into the forest on Saturday.
The North Island Kokako Recovery Plan’s website describes the bird as one of the most beautiful and endangered but most famous for its “haunting song”.
The five kokako were captured from the Rotoehu Forest, near Rotorua.
Trust secretary Garry Bones said the team woke as early as 4.15am in order to reach the net site before the birds’ dawn chorus. A mist net was raised to about 15m to catch birds responding to decoy calls.
“We waited expectantly for a bird to glide high up across the clearing and into the net, where it would get tangled in the very fine mesh,” Mr Bones said.
Funding came from WWF Habitat Protection fund and the Lion Foundation, and the OK Trust was thankful for support from local iwi, landowners and DoC staff, Mr Bones said.
http://www.bayofplentytimes.co.nz/local/news/kokakos-haunting-song-back-in-forest/3920708/
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