Bringing back the dead: Kiwi classics could inhabit the earth again

Six speakers will talk of de-extinction being a reality in the next decade or so.

When Labour MP Trevor Mallard brought up the idea of bringing back the moa, he was told it wasn't a goer - but it turns out he wasn't too far off his rocker.

A symposium being held today at Massey University will discuss the potential "de-extinction" of New Zealand birds, with the huia sitting at the top of the list.

Six speakers will talk of de-extinction being a reality in the next decade or so - using recovered DNA to reconstruct species genomes, and injecting stem cells into embryos to be birthed by surrogates.

Professor Philip Seddon of Otago University's zoology department said the main reason for the symposium was to get people to discuss something that was likely to soon become a reality.

"I'm not an advocate for it. I'm not against it. It's a reality we need to debate," he said.

"I think in a lot of people's minds it's science fiction.

"The point of the symposium is to put the ideas out to a bunch of ecologists and say 'this technology is real, it's coming and what we need to do is work out how to get the best conservation benefit by using it'."

Professor Seddon said the huia was high on a list of appropriate species for possible de-extinction, because it had close relatives in the saddleback and kokako that could be used as surrogates.

Because of a lack of appropriate surrogate or close relative, he said the moa would be a bit more difficult to bring back from extinction.

He said that New Zealand was a long way away from bringing the huia, which died out in the early 20th century, back from the dead.

Another academic who will speak is Dr Patrick Whittle of Canterbury University's philosophy department.

Dr Whittle said there were a number of ethical issues relating to de-extinction: "Why would you spend money on this when there are living species in desperate need of money and attention now?"

He said a plus side could be that technology would enable scientists to introduce genetic diversity to living populations of birds that were near extinction, such as the black robin or kakapo, using DNA extracted from museum specimens.

Dr Whittle said overseas animals being promoted for de-extinction were the Tasmanian tiger, the passenger pigeon and the mammoth.

Mr Mallard, who this year said he'd be keen to see moa reintroduced into the Rimutaka Forest Park, will speak at the opening of the symposium.

He declined to comment - saying he preferred to leave it to the experts.