Dolphin eco-hero off to US

Libby Christophers has set up a website called the Maui Movement to champion the endangered dolphin. Photo / Greg Bowker

Teenager’s work to raise plight of endangered NZ mammal earns international award.

Auckland teen Libby Christophers is on a mission to save an at-risk dolphin.

She may be only 15 but she has learned more about the environment than most adults.

Libby is the latest winner of ASB's Good As Gold promotion, which will pay for her and mum Eve's flights to San Francisco in October to pick up her International Young Eco-Hero Award.

It was won through the environmental organisation Action for Nature and Libby is the only Kiwi - with two Australians - to win the award this year.

Libby has been passionate about the environment "for as long as I can remember".

"I would be living the dream if when I grew up I become a zoologist or some sort of environmental researcher and travel and study other endangered animals."

She won her award for the work she has done raising awareness for the Maui's dolphin, of which there are fewer than 50 left in the world.

The endangered Maui dolphin Libby is trying to save.

She set up a website called the Maui Movement for the endangered animal, which populates West Coast water between Raglan and Taranaki.

Her interest in the dolphin followed a presentation from one of her Macleans College teachers featuring champion freediver William Trubridge when she learned about the mammal's plight. "It just really struck a chord with me ... They are the smallest and rarest cetaceans in the world."

I would be living the dream if ... I become a zoologist or ... environmental researcher.

Libby Christophers

She contacted environmental experts, including conservationist Pete Bethune, and various politicians to find out what systems were in place to help protect the dolphin.

"They're just so rare and only have such a small part of the ocean and that's only a very small fraction of their habitat," she said.

Libby's return trip to San Francisco with her mother - valued at about $4000 - has been paid as part of her prize. She has raised $3000 through her own fundraising efforts and donations from family and friends over the past month.

She needs a further $2000 to $3000 for travel expenses and accommodation for the October 24 event and is planning a movie night to help raise the rest of the money.