Rebecca Fox

It may just be a stool but its upholstery hides an intriguing concept - it is made out of recycled material, but not any old recycled material.

Getting a 10kg sea bird to ignore the call of the wild and not put any pressure on its broken leg is the latest challenge for staff at the royal northern albatross colony at Taiaroa Head.

An extraordinary meeting of the Otago Regional Council will be held on Tuesday to discuss "councillors' code of conduct considerations".

As more and more people buy their fishing licences online, Fish and Game Otago is reviewing the number of agencies selling the licences.

A self-confessed "controversial" figure, Jeff Connell is retiring after 20 years as the Department of Conservation's Otago conservator. Rebecca Fox talks to the man who has shaped the region's conservation efforts, often not without criticism.

An Otago beach might not be your ideal winter holiday spot, but about four leopard seals are making the most of the comparatively balmy conditions away from their Antarctic and subantarctic homes.

Amy McCauley still cannot quite believe she won the groomer of the year award at the National Dog Groomers Association Groomalong, in Christchurch.

Less than five minutes of tugging by a digger freed the tractor abandoned on Tomahawk beach, in Dunedin, this week.

Back-country skiers should be conservative in dangerous conditions such as those which claimed the life of a heli-ski guide in an avalanche yesterday afternoon, a mountain safety expert says.

A Dunedin man is angry and concerned about the safety of mail after having a letter sent to him minus its contents, but New Zealand Post defends its processes, saying it takes the security of mail seriously.

The abandonment of a population management plan for one of the world's rarest sea lions is a disappointment, the New Zealand Sea Lion Trust says.

An injured endangered royal northern albatross chick has been flown to Massey University's wildlife health centre in the hope its life can be saved.

A Dunedin rare book dealer made the winning bid for the 233-year-old gold filigree snuff box once owned by Robert Burns, but it is not yet known if the historic piece is for sale.

Two southern right whales spent yesterday lazing about in the sun in Waikouaiti Bay, providing Department of Conservation staff with the perfect opportunity to gather another sample to add to the database of genetic information on the nationally endangered whale.

Paua reseeding off the coast of Papatowai has shown that if hatchery-reared paua are put out in the right habitats they will make a very significant contribution to paua numbers, Dunedin fisheries scientist Bob Street says.

Otago Regional Council chief executive Graeme Martin will neither confirm nor deny whether a code of conduct complaint has been laid against any councillor.