Category: Public Media

Source: Radio New Zealand

A teenager was left swimming for his life in Lake Taupō while rescue helicopter calls were delayed by police, RNZ has learned.

Police stood down a rescue helicopter crew that had rapidly assembled after a burning boat was spotted in Lake Taupō on Sunday evening.

The crew quickly spotted a 14-year-old boy who had leapt from the boat and threw him a life-ring.

RNZ inquiries show the chopper was told it was not needed just after 7pm – then told that it actually was about half an hour later.

The boy was rescued an hour after police were first alerted.

He was by that time a kilometre from the burning boat, swimming without a lifejacket.

Police’s initial statement on Monday said he was lucky to survive.

The boy was fine, police said.

RNZ made inquiries after becoming aware of questions being asked locally about how long it took the chopper to get there.

Police released timestamps today showing they confirmed the boy was missing at 7.19pm.

More to come…

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Five people have been injured after a crash involving a truck in Waikato.

Emergency services were called just before midday to State Highway 25 in Hauraki.

Three people have been seriously injured and a further two people sustained moderate injuries.

The section is closed near the intersection with Hauraki Road and diversions are in place.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Just over six months after little spotted kiwi were reintroduced to Nelson’s Brook Waimārama Sanctuary, breeding has begun and the first chick has hatched, just in time for Christimas.

In May, 41 little spotted kiwi, also known as kiwi pukupuku, were translocated from Kapiti Island to the fenced sanctuary in Nelson.

Brook Waimārama Sanctuary ecologist Robert Schadewinkel said they had been hopeful the birds would breed this season. Little spotted kiwi typically lay eggs between July and January, with an incubation period of 65 to 75 days.

The male birds do the incubation work and Schadewinkel said of the 10 male birds fitted with transmitters, five were visiting the same burrow, which had indicated they were breeding.

Trail cameras had been set up near those burrows, to catch footage of chicks when they emerged.

“I checked the half a dozen trail cameras and there we were, this chick just popped up in the corner of the camera,” Schadewinkel said

“It was an absolutely delightful, joyful moment. I couldn’t hope for anything better than that just before Christmas.

“It’s an amazing Christmas gift to all of us, to all the Brooklyn Waimārama Sanctuary volunteers, staff, but also the whole of Whakatū Nelson,

Schadewinkel said it was emotional seeing footage of the first fluffy kiwi chick wandering around in the bush and it reinforced all the hard work that had gone in to ensure the sanctuary remained pest free and a suitable habitat for the birds.

“I’m pretty confident this is certainly not the only one but whether we’ve got five chicks or 11 chicks or 20 chicks in the sanctuary, who knows, but we know they’re breeding, we know they’re happy, we know they’ve found a new home and they’re loving it.”

Sanctuary chief executive Chris McCormack said the arrival of kiwi chicks was a Christmas treat.

It had been the vision of the sanctuary’s original founders to re-introduce kiwi to the area, after a decades long absence.

McCormack said having the kiwi establish themselves so soon after translocation showed there was plenty of food in the sanctuary for them.

“We hope in the future that we could probably get to a capacity of 300 to 350 in the sanctuary. Still years to come, of course, but it’s just magic that we’ve got eggs already.”

Several months after the kiwi had settled in, the sanctuary had begun night tours and over a thousand people had taken a guided tour between July and November.

Visitors often heard kiwi calling to each other, with some lucky enough to have close encounters.

McCormack said on a recent tour he led, they stopped to see the gloworms and had turned their torches off, when one visitor became agitated by something on the ground.

“I turned my red head torch back on, and there we were, a kiwi right at her feet, it jumped in the bushes, and then we watched it jump back onto the boardwalk then disappeared into the night. Then straight after that, it decided to come back for another check of these humans and turned around and disappeared back into the night.”

McCormack said the encounter left him speechless. He usually warned visitors that seeing kiwi was like finding a needle in a haystack.

For the first time, night tours at the sanctuary will continue into the summer months to allow visitors to the region to experience the wildlife after dark.

McCormack said kākā and mohua were the next bird species they hoped to translocate into the sanctuary.

Kiwi pukupuku were thought to be functionally extinct in the South Island until a chance discovery on the West Coast earlier this year.

In July, a female kiwi pukupuku was found in the remote Adams Wilderness Area, for the first time in 50 years.

Kiwi pukupuku are extremely vulnerable to introduced predators. Until now, it was believed they only survived in offshore islands and fenced predator-free sites.

Despite years of searching, the last known sighting of a kiwi pukupuku on the mainland was in 1978.

The Department of Conservation is gathering information to work with Kāti Māhaki ki Makaawhio (a distinct hapū of Ngāi Tahu and Ngāti Māmoe) to explore the future protection and management of the birds.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Watercare has fulfilled a promise to give another $1 million to beleaguered oyster farmers north of Auckland after a catastrophic sewage failure.

It’s after an initial $1m was given last month after the spill obliterated crops in late October.

Watercare agreed to give that money to 10 affected farmers.

It said the second tranche is so it can give support them while an independent assessment on losses is still being done.

Watercare has previously said it expects that assessment to be finalised in the new year.

Confirmation of the second payment comes days after oyster farmers expressed their frustration, desperation and said they were losing faith.

Farmer Tom Waters said he had only been able to farm for about six weeks of this year and bills and debts had mounted with little time to harvest.

He had already twice considered closing the doors of his business.

“This year’s been diabolical, I wouldn’t even be in business if it hadn’t been for lovely people who had donated and kept me going,” he told Checkpoint on 18 December.

The overflow was a power surge combined with monitoring and alert systems failing.

More than 1000 cubic metres of sewage overflowed, contaminating thousands of oysters in the Mahurangi River and stopping harvesting for nearly a month.

It came at the peak of the season.

“This incident should not have happened,” Watercare chief operations officer Mark Bourne said on Wednesday.

Oyster farmers have faced ongoing contamination problems for several years, but Watercare said the October spill was unique.

The payments go toward losses directly caused by that overflow and not other historical losses caused by the likes of weather or consented overflows

“These matters are governed separately under environmental consents and regulatory frameworks,” it said.

Watercare said it will be contacting farmers individually and confidentially to discuss the outcomes of the loss assessment once it is finished.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

The scrub fire near the Hawke’s Bay village of Fernhill – between the township and the Ngaruroro River bridge – is almost fully out, Fire and Emergency says.

The blaze is fully contained and 95 percent extinguished, a spokesperson said on Wednesday.

Overnight, crews with a pump truck and a tanker monitored the site for any potential flareups.

Fire and Emergency said one crew with a tanker is monitoring the area today, extinguishing the last few remaining hotspots.

The blaze broke out near Hastings on Tuesday, leaving one person hospitalised and multiple buildings destroyed.

Three firefighters experienced heat exhaustion while working on the fire. Two were treated at the scene, and one was transferred to Hawke’s Bay Hospital as a precaution.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand is liaising with them and their families.

The fire also forced people living in and around the Farmhouse Lodge accommodation from their homes.

Fire and Emergency said it was still unclear when evacuated residents might be able to return home.

State Highway 50 at Fernhill reopened on Wednesday morning after it was closed due to the fire.

The New Zealand Transport Agency said the road is under stop-go traffic management near Omahu Road.

Motorists are being told to expect delays around the Fernhill area.

Fire and Emergency Assistant Commander Jason Hill told RNZ earlier today firefighting would resume this morning.

“Crews will be looking to bring the fire to a point where it’s 100 percent controlled, so that means there is no chance of it burning outside of the containment lines, whether the wind picks up or not,” he said.

“We still have multiple pockets of fire burning within the perimeter.”

A fire investigator would also begin looking into the cause of the fire, Hill said.

He said two homes, multiple sheds and some machinery had been destroyed.

When crews arrived, flames fanned by strong winds were running up the hill, threatening multiple buildings, Hill said.

Firefighting efforts were hampered by gusts of up to 90 km/h, which meant they could not call on helicopters, leaving ground crews to tackle it.

Dawson Bliss, who owns Farmhouse Lodge, said the fire was burning on his property.

A tenant alerted him to smoke billowing up the hill and when he went to investigate, it appeared an old bus was on fire on flat land near the Ngaruroro river.

“I rushed down there and got close to it and had extinguishers and so forth, but it was just too ablaze to try and get close enough,” he said.

Bliss did not know when he and his tenants would be able to return to the property.

On Tuesday he told RNZ he was feeling okay, but “later on it might be worse, when we take stock of the situation”.

Fire and Emergency said Civil Defence had helped evacuees to find a place to stay overnight.

Hastings Mayor Wendy Schollum said it was distressing for those impacted by the fire – and it was a stark reminder of how dangerous the region’s hot, windy summers could be.

Schollum and Hill urged people to take fire bans seriously.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

A police dog seriously injured after falling into scalding geothermal water is finally getting to enjoy retirement after months of recovery – just in time for Christmas.

Teo was being gradually eased back from seven years of patrol work when she fell as soft ground gave way during a search and rescue operation in Rotorua.

She suffered severe burns, primarily to her hindquarters, and it was touch-and-go whether she would make it.

Teo received three weeks of critical care from vets and nurses at Massey University Veterinary Teaching Hospital.

Three months later, handler Constable Adam Johannsen said Teo’s road to recovery had been up and down.

“She’s missing fur from being shaved through her treatment, so she looks scruffy as hell, but she’s very much in the realm of being fully recovered and back to her normal self,” he said.

The pair graduated as an operational team in 2018. Teo won the award for best new operational dog in her first year and in 2024 they were awarded Auckland City District’s Murray Morrisey Award for operational excellence.

“She’s got a big heart and probably hasn’t been the hardest dog in terms of her apprehensions, but with her tracking she just gives that extra 10 percent,” Johannsen told the TenOne police magazine.

In one instance, following a family harm incident, Teo tracked the person for 3.5 kilometres and found him hiding on a building site in a portable loo.

“She’s had a few good catches like that. I believe it’s a result of her search-and-rescue work giving her that extra fitness and extra tracking ability.”

Tracking and finding people in search and rescue work had likely saved lives, he said.

“She’s quite a remarkable dog and just doesn’t give up.

“She’s looked after me and saved me once or twice too.”

There had been “incredible” support during her recovery from colleagues and members of the public.

“People have been phoning stations to see how she’s doing, and someone even stopped me in the street the other day to ask if it was Teo with me.”

Teo was officially fully retired on the day of her accident.

“Every day she’s trying to jump in the back of the van to come to work with me,” Johannsen said.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand