Stella was found injured in South Canterbury in July of 2021 by Tamara Sheppard who quickly transported Stella to the New Zealand Raptor Trust based in Timaru for specialist care.

After being assessed by the NZ Raptor Trust, Stella’s injuries were identified to be head trauma causing loss of balance and a drooping wing. She remained in intensive care with the NZ Raptor Trust for several weeks until her injuries had healed enough to move her into the next phase of rehabilitation.

By October 2023 Stella had made a significant recovery, but unfortunately it was clear she would not be fit to be released back into the wild. Stella still has a droopy wing, which affects her ability to fly strong enough to hunt successfully and still has a minor head tilt due to the head trauma.

The decision was made for Stella to join us here at the Kārearea Falcon Trust, so she could join our conservation breed-for-release programme, arriving in February 2024 via a Air New Zealand flight.

Air New Zealand and DOC provide a wonderful service in transporting kārearea and other threatened species around the country. To check out more about this service visit https://www.airnewzealand.co.nz/doc-threatened-species.

We hope to pair Stella up with a male kārearea so together they can help restore kārearea populations, by raising healthy chicks that can be released to the wild.

Stella was kindly named by Tamara's children.

All of Stellas beautiful photos have been provided by Jenni from The NZ Raptor Trust.

BRONZE - Toroa 6, Career Navigator - Graeme Dingle Foundation, from Blenheim NZ

SILVER - NZ Raptor Trust, from Timaru NZ

GOLD -

If you would like to adopt Stella - head to our Adopt a Falcon page.