Returning to nature

New Zealand Raptor Trust rehab co-ordinator Jenni Fraser releases a New Zealand falcon (kārearea) into a City Forests plantation near Flagstaff late last month.

Dunedin Wildlife Hospital Trust manager Jordana Whyte said the juvenile male falcon was admitted to the wildlife hospital after it was discovered injured in a garage on a rural property near Momona in February. 

The falcon spent five weeks at the wildlife hospital before it was transferred to the raptor rehabilitation center in Timaru where it convalesced for nearly six months. Kārearea were rare patients at the wildlife hospital, Ms Whyte said.