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As a registered charitable trust and community focussed organisation, the
 Trust operates in a commercially astute manner to achieve its mission,
which encompasses the following:
- Conservation work in support of endangered species from both New Zealand and overseas.
- Provision of quality recreational facilities to be enjoyed by the people of Christchurch and Canterbury, along with the many domestic and international visitors to our region.
- Educating and inspiring our visitors to care about the environment and conservation issues (particularly school children, who will be the protectors of our precious biodiversity tomorrow).
- Captive fauna research in direct support of in situ conservation programs.
Set on 80 hectares of park-like grounds, Orana Wildlife Park is New
 Zealand’s only open range zoo. The Park is home to over 400 animals representing more than 70 species from New Zealand and around the world.
Unique, up close animal encounters are a park specialty and enable visitors to have a range of immersing experiences, including: hand feeding giraffe, meeting white rhino in a “face-to-face” experience, seeing the tigers search, leap or even climb a pole for their food and watching the blistering speed of the cheetah as it sprints down a 180 metre long paddock. Our showpiece experience is the unique Lion Encounter which enables visitors to travel through the African Lion Habitat on board a specially modified vehicle for extremely close views of these amazing animals.
An extensive New Zealand native collection features kiwi, tuatara, stunning reptiles and a range of endemic birds. Orana has one of the most comprehensive public displays of native geckos. The Farmyard enables visitors to pet a selection of friendly domestic animals.
A total of fifteen special encounters with various animal species are offered throughout the day (scheduled every thirty minutes). This has resulted in the average visit duration increasing to between three and five hours. These successful encounters have been a key contributor to our growth in visitor numbers and significant increase in park membership over the last few years.
Two female white rhinos were transferred from Perth Zoo in April 2007. The arrival of the unrelated females is a major boost for Orana’s involvement in the regional breeding program. The park previously held four white rhino and successfully bred a calf from captive-born parents in 1999. In time, staff members plan to integrate the new females into the park’s herd, which will give a display group of five rhinos significantly enhancing our popular daily rhino encounter for visitors. Furthermore, we are hopeful that the arrival of the new animals will provide additional stimulus for breeding. The new rhinos are great to work with and we acknowledge the efforts of Perth Zoo keeping staff in working with these animals.
Orana transferred a 16 year-old male siamang (named Oscar) to pair with its lone female Peggy (aged 16) in January 2007. Oscar is a new founder for the ASMP siamang program. He is a confiscated wild-caught animal and provides genuine new bloodlines as he is unrelated to all other siamangs in this region! Oscar was transferred from Singapore Zoo in July 2006 to Adelaide Zoo where he spent time in quarantine before moving to Christchurch. New Zealand government regulations state that primates can only be imported into New Zealand from Australia and that the animal needs to have resided in Australia for at least 120 days. Orana staff members sincerely acknowledge the support and effort of Adelaide Zoo in bringing this important animal to the region on our behalf. The introduction of the two apes has gone extremely well and mating has been observed.
The park’s most recent developments have been exhibits for siamangs (2005) and Sumatran tigers (2006). A new lion den complex will be completed in 2007 and work will then commence on a walk-through kea aviary.
The siamang exhibit is situated near the park’s entrance. The exhibit consists of a house situated above a landscaped island. Access to the island is gained by swinging across high ropes which are 7.5 metres off the ground. This is the first time Orana has held an ape species, so the exhibit is particularly significant for educational purposes and especially shows off the siamang’s spectacular brachiation movement pattern. The park won the ARAZPA small scale exhibit award in 2006 for this development.
 Orana Wildlife Park completed a stunning new Tiger Habitat which was opened to the public in November 2006. The development is the most ambitious project undertaken in over a decade. Where possible, and to keep costs down, staff members design all exhibits and the park’s staff build them. Orana celebrated 30 years of operation in September 2006 so the new Tiger Habitat was a wonderful way to commemorate three decades of operation.
The conservation value of the development is immense because it enabled the park to join the captive management program for the critically endangered Sumatran tiger as a holder of two brothers. In the future the park hopes to breed these stunning animals. Importantly, the Tiger Habitat is a critical addition owing to its ability to enhance the visitor experience and significantly drive visitation. The habitat is designed to be a new template in terms of visitor interaction, interpretive signage and animal management and will also assist the park in its conservation efforts with endangered native fauna in years to come.
The Tiger Habitat is a 6,000 square metre development featuring three separate exhibits and den facilities, two massive pools (which collectively hold 700,000 litres), two raised viewing platforms and a central viewing pavilion with massive glass panels providing face-to-face views of the cats. There are provisions for behind the scenes tours to show visitors how big cats are managed in captivity.
A daily public feed occurs at 11.30 a.m. and is accompanied by a keeper talk. The cats are locked away before the feed and bound out into their habitat. The range of environmental stimulants for the cats also provides great entertainment for visitors as people can see the tigers bathing in the water, leaping across high logs, climbing a six metre high post and roaming around their habitat.
Orana Wildlife Trust is committed to making a genuine contribution to conservation and environmental preservation. The Trust was the supreme winner of the 2006 Canterbury Resource Management Awards for an integrated approach to resource management and also won the 2006 Champion Canterbury Business Award in the Champion Host category.
The park’s native conservation work incorporates four broad areas:
Orana is involved in breed for release recovery programs for kiwi, whio (blue duck) and pateke (brown teal). The park also rehabilitates native rescue birds such as bellbird, paradise shelduck and wood pigeon (kereru). Since 2000, 64 endangered New Zealand birds have been bred at the Park and released to the wild as outlined below:
 Twenty-three nationally endangered blue ducks bred at the park have been released back to the wild near Mount Taranaki as part of the Department of Conservation (DOC) recovery program. Since the DOC release program started in 2000, over 25% of all blue ducks released to the wild have been bred at the park. Recent monitoring from the release site indicates that Orana-bred birds have paired and bred in the wild - a first for the recovery program.- In 2004, the park joined the DOC breed for release program for brown teal (the most endangered waterfowl on mainland New Zealand). Thirty-nine brown teal have been successfully raised and all have been released to the wild.
The park successfully breeds North Island brown kiwi as part of the managed captive program. Two Orana-bred kiwi were released to the wild in 2006.
- Park staff are proud of these efforts and are dedicated to becoming involved in further breed for release programs for endangered native animals in the future.
The park’s natural habitat and artesian waterways are home to over twenty native species that choose to live on the grounds. An extensive planting program and pest eradication plan is in place to enhance the habitat.
 The park’s natural setting provides a habitat where a range of native species thrive, including: New Zealand scaup, shoveller, pukeko, pied stilt, grey teal, Australasian coot, oystercatchers, spur-winged plovers, white-faced herons, paradise shelduck, bellbirds, skinks, native stick insects and wetas. Over time, more native birds have been attracted. For example a kotuku (white heron) was recently spotted at the park and this is thought to be the first time that one of these magnificent birds has ventured onto our grounds. Pied stilt were not present on the park’s grounds ten years ago, now every spring there are at least twelve birds breeding. Ten years ago grey teal and pukeko were only occasionally seen at the park and now these birds regularly breed here.
The spotted skink, a lizard thought to be extinct in the Christchurch area, was recently confirmed to be living on the grounds at Orana Wildlife Park. The spotted skink was last officially recorded on Christchurch’s Port Hills in the 1950s and at McLeans Island in the 1980s. With additional predator traps in place the spotted skink now has a safe habitat in which to survive and hopefully multiply. Recent monitoring of the predator free site resulted in the location of a very large (21 cm long) spotted skink which appeared to be a pregnant female! Orana staff members are now carrying out additional habitat restoration for the spotted skink – native trees are being planted to provide a seasonal food supply and shelter from predators.
The Trust aims to significantly reduce waste and to conserve resources, mainly through its recycling program and waste reduction scheme.
- Since the inception of the recycling program the park has reduced its landfill waste by 50%. Aluminium cans, scrap metal, plastics, colour sorted glass, waste oil and cardboard is all taken for recycling and shredded office paper is used for animal bedding.
- Orana provides approximately 150 tonnes of wet hoofstock faecal matter (per annum) to the local Zoo Doo company who convert it into a fine blend compost for gardens. This product is sold to the public. In addition, staff have transferred quantities of lion faecal matter to the west coast of New Zealand as a trial to deter rabbits eating trees at a restoration site.
- A new irrigation system worth $100,000 is progressively being installed. It prevents water waste, reduces electricity consumption and improves grass growth for the animals.
- A non–return valve has been fitted to our water pump meaning that the pump turns off after ten hours of use and only one pump is used to supply water to the park during low use periods, reducing water consumption.
The Trust aims to utilise both the park and Southern Encounter as “living classrooms” to their fullest extent in providing motivating educational experiences that encourage our children to act responsibly towards the environment. Our education programs provide meaningful lessons without detrimental impact on the environment. For example, students can have a close encounter with native reptiles without the need to disturb habitats in the wild to view such animals. Children leave the park with strong calls to action (particularly what they can do locally) encouraging them to act responsibly towards the environment. Feedback from teachers indicates an extremely high retention level of information by students following visits to Orana Wildlife Park and Southern Encounter, long after the visit is complete.
For more information on our facilities, please visit our websites:
www.oranawildlifepark.co.nz / www.southernencounter.co.nz
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