The healing qualities of mānuka are hardly a secret, but Awanui company Mana Kai Honey is developing an entirely new, potentially global market with a remedy specifically marketed as a treatment for animals.
Mānuka ointment, developed by leading mānuka scientist and researcher Dr Ralf Schlothauer, a member of the Mana Kai board, and manufactured by a cosmetics company in Auckland, is rapidly gaining a reputation as a highly effective animal treatment for burns, wounds, abrasions and skin conditions, including eczema, psoriasis and fungal infections.
Marketing assistant Alex Bellingham said it was being used by members of the Whangārei-based Northland Pig Hunting Club members, who "raved" about it, and was now being distributed locally via veterinary practices in Kaitaia and Kerikeri. But it was going much further afield than that.
It was being widely distributed amongst veterinary clients around New Zealand, and overseas, by a company based in Cambridge, and, most spectacularly, had been used by Seal Rescue Ireland to treat a badly injured seal that was initially not expected to survive. Within little more than a week it was eating and generally thriving, well on the way to a full recovery.
Mana Kai was now sending another batch of ointment to the Emerald Isle. ("Such a big thank you to Mana Kai Honey, who have just donated more of their magic Mānuka Honey ointment to us to help heal more seals in need," Seal Rescue Ireland says on its Facebook page.