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Spectrum was a long-running weekly radio documentary series which captured the essence of New Zealand from 1972 to 2016. Alwyn Owen and Jack Perkins produced the series for many years, creating a valuable library of New Zealand oral history.
Armed with tape recorders and nets, Spectrum joins teams from the Wild Life division of Internal Affairs are locating and trapping the threatened kokāko in some forest areas of the Bay of Plenty. After capture, these native crows will find sanctuary on Little Barrier Island.
Neil Howie and his Wild Life Service Team trap kōkako in the Mamaku Forest near Rotorua. The forest, mostly tawa, will be felled to make way for pine tree plantations. Howie and his team are locating and trapping the kōkako before transporting them to the sanctuary of Little Barrier Island (Hauturu).
Howie and his team are part of the Government’s Project Employment scheme. They use recordings of the kōkako call as a lure. They usually try to trap mated pairs. They use a fine net hanging vertically from the canopy.
Jack Perkins visits Brent Calder at Rainbow Springs in Rotorua. Calder looks after the kōkako already captured before they are transported to Little Barrier Island. Calder feeds the birds a mixture of honey, Complan (milk powder) and Farex (rice cereal). He also feeds them puha and apples.
Don Merton pioneered the trapping method used by Howie and the Wild Life Services Team in the 1960’s. Merton explains that the Wild Life Services don’t have the staffing or resourcing to tackle all of the urgent conservation work. Howie would like to see more areas under survey in order to keep up with logging.
Merton describes his professional and moral commitment to conservation. He shares a quote from zoologist George Schaller.