Don Merton (right) and Hugh Willoughby pictured in 1975 shortly after the capture of Richard Henry, the last surviving Fiordland kakapo, who died on Christmas Eve 2010 (image: Don Merton)
Dr Donald Merton (1939-2011) died at the weekend at his home in Tauranga. He was one of New Zealand's most well-known conservationists, famous for his work with threatened bird species both in New Zealand and in the Indian Ocean. He was most well-known for his work with the Chatham Island black robin and kakapo, but also played a pivotal role with both North and South Island saddlebacks.
Early on in his long career with the New Zealand Wildlife Service, and later with the New Zealand Department of Conservation, he worked with a team of volunteers on Hen Island in the Hauraki Gulf, developing techniques to catch North Island saddlebacks, hold them in temporary captivity and move them to new island homes. This marked the beginning of island translocations as a very successful management tool for threatened species.
The new found techniques were put to use the following year when Don and colleagues Brian Bell and others launched a last-minute attempt to save three rare bird species on Big South Cape Island following a rat invasion. Two bird species became extinct but the South Island saddleback was successfully rescued. As Don explains to Alison Ballance in his last interview, recorded just before Christmas, Big South Cape marked a sea-change in the recognition of rats as significant predators that could cause rapid extinctions.
You can read more about Don's life work in 'Don Merton - the man who saved the black robin', by Alison Ballance (Raupo Publishing 2007).
