The volunteers look after the birds from recovery to release, taking them to vet checkups, feeding them, and housing them until they’re strong enough to head back into the wild.<\/p>\n
Lindsay’s love of birds and wildlife photography led him to co-found the trust in 2016.<\/p>\n
“I’d been breeding birds since I [was] about five or six, kind of bred from finches and budgies up to African greys, cockatoos.”<\/p>\n
In the early days, injured birds had no centre to go to – so volunteers would just bring them home.<\/p>\n
“We were running rescue birds out of our garages, lounges.<\/p>\n
“Then we got this place and we slowly started to build it.”<\/p>\n
Shipping containers and netted enclosures at the Trust’s Timaru operations base now house birds through the later stages of their recovery.<\/p>\n
The space also includes an education facility, where people can pay to learn about the birds – and also hold them.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/4JKTZEK_CLife_Raptor_trust_3_JPG.jpeg\")
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The ruru nohinohi, or little owl, was introduced in the 1900s in an attempt to manage small pest birds on grain and fruit farms.<\/p>\n
RNZ\/Anisha Satya<\/p>\n
“We’re getting tourists; we have people come in off the cruise ships,” Lindsay said.<\/p>\n
“But my main emphasis really – it’s great to have the tourists in – but I want to educate New Zealanders on these birds … the things that we’re doing to them, the things that we’re doing to their habitat.”<\/p>\n
Birds enjoying a highway carcass are the trust’s most common visitors. Other have built their nests in farm machinery, found their way inside a chicken coop, or been poisoned by bullet lead after scavenging culled pests.<\/p>\n
![\"NZ](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/4JKTZSQ_CLife_Raptor_trust_4_JPG.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
NZ Raptor Trust chairperson Jenni Fraser (right) carries out a welfare check on a k\u0101hu alongside volunteer Angie Tidy.<\/p>\n
RNZ\/Anisha Satya<\/p>\n
Some birds cannot be saved, chairperson Jenni Fraser said.<\/p>\n
“Our stats are, at the moment, one in three birds will be released.<\/p>\n
“One bird will come in and it’ll be so badly injured that we’ll euthanise it immediately.”<\/p>\n
But for the birds who do get better and return to the wild, it’s another shot at life.<\/p>\n
“We’re so happy, 175 we’ve released so far.”<\/p>\n
Fraser and fellow volunteer Angie Tidy, who both joined the cause in 2019, monitor the birds at home before bringing the strong ones into the centre for rehabilitation.<\/p>\n
“Over the years we’ve built up and expanded and learnt more about the birds,” Tidy said.<\/p>\n
The most recent addition to the trust is a breeding centre for their live-in k\u0101rearea – not strong enough to return to the wild, but capable of making babies who are.<\/p>\n
“We have four falcons here, one breeding pair already,” Tidy said.<\/p>\n
“These birds can’t be released because they’ve been injured … but their offspring can be.”<\/p>\n
The team hopes it will help rebuild the k\u0101rearea population, which sits between 5,000 and 8,000, according to DOC (although the website cites that as an “uncertain” number”).<\/p>\n
![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/4JKTY2W_CLife_Raptor_trust_5_JPG.jpeg\")
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Two k\u0101hu (harrier hawks) in the long flight enclosure.<\/p>\n
RNZ\/Anisha Satya<\/p>\n