Tiritiri Matangi Island Sanctuary was established in 1982 and is now considered the gold standard of how to successfully establish a predator-free island for native wildlife to thrive.
According to writer and conservationist Anne Rimmer, the idea came about after Sir Peter Scott, son of Antarctic explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott and one of the founders of WWF, visited New Zealand to find a flagship conservation project for WWF. A visit to Tiritiri Matangi Island ‘sparked his imagination’.
Sir Peter had a vision for an ‘open sanctuary’ by making space for the public to be involved throughout the process. WWF-New Zealand subsequently provided seed funding for the project by raising nearly $150,000 (about $650,000 today) to help bring the sanctuary to life.
After receiving WWF funding, volunteers replanted the island and successfully eradicated the kiore/Pacific rat in 1993. Rare bird species were reintroduced and 40 years later, the island has been utterly transformed from scrubby farmland into a predator-free paradise.
Introduced predators have been eradicated, native forests have been restored, and rare native birds and reptiles have flourished. This island is a true haven for the precious wildlife, such as kōkako, tīeke/saddleback and tuatara, that call it home.