N1.1m has been set for anyone who finds this bird alive

There is the need to conserve some of the flora and fauna species in our environment. The nonchalant attitude of locals and the constant activities of poachers put most of the indigenous species around at risk of extinction.

There is the need for strong conservative measures to be enforced in order to preserve some of the endangered species. A New Zealand charity has offered $3,638 which is about N1.1 million as reward to anyone who sights a South Island ‘kokako’ bird.

The kokako bird are basically two species of endangered forest birds that are endemic to New Zealand. There is the North Island kokako and the almost extinct South Island kokako. Both species of birds are slate-grey with wattles and have black masks.

The South Island kokako has a distinctive orange wattle under its neck and was once rampant in the forests of the South and Stewart Islands. The decision of the charity on the reward was made recently in order to encourage people to help them look for this bird.

The bird had been listed as extinct before the year 2013; it was sorted again as ‘data deficient’ and more information was gathered on it. This bird is regarded to be the rarest on the planet. Mr Euan Kennedy, the chairman of the South Island Kokako Charitable Trust said the hunt for the rarest bird on the planet is urgent.

kokako bird

“If the South Island kokako still exist, there will be very few left we need to locate them very soon so that conservation has a higher prospect of success,’’ he stated.

The reward would be given as soon as the panel of New Zealand’s expert ornithologists sit and agree that the bird exists.

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Bird lovers, pet keepers, hunters and every other back country user that have had the opportunity to see or hear the bird are encouraged to register on the website of the trust. It should be noted that no photo of the bird exists thus, the one released by the trust is a cloned modification of the north island kokako, just to help people know what the south island bird looks like.

The introduction of ship rats, cats and other organisms made the number of the south island bird reduce. The last time the bird was sighted was in 1967 at the Mount Aspiring National Park.