Kimberly-Clark Australia & New Zealand’s Kleenex Tissues brand partnered with Wingspan Birds of Prey Trust in an attempt to bolster conservation efforts to save the native New Zealand Falcon, or Kãrearea, a threatened endemic bird. The Kãrearea is the only falcon found in New Zealand and is one of only four forest falcons out of a total of 38 species of falcons worldwide.
New Zealand falcons evolved in the absence of mammalian predators and humans. As a result they commonly breed on the ground and the eggs, chicks and adults are highly susceptible to being preyed upon by introduced predators. Widespread habitat loss, modification and degradation mean that falcons have fewer places to safely nest, catch the food they need and raise their young. Illegal shooting by humans, collisions with cars and windows, and electrocution by landing on non-insulated power poles also pose significant threats to falcons nationwide.
Wingspan supports wild populations directly by releasing captive bred falcons and rehabilitating injured wild birds. Thanks to a very generous donation by Kimberley-Clark and Kleenex of two Octagon 20 Advance incubators and a TLC-50 Advance brooder the hatching programme is proving to be very successful with nine ‘new’ falcons being released into the wild last year.
One of the New Zealand falcons hatched in a Brinsea Octagon 20 incubator
Two of the donated incubators and the TLC Brooder which are used in the breeding programme
