Editorial: Rigged Bird of the Century election ruffled feathers, but excellent outcome nonetheless

John Oliver appears on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon dressed as a pūteketeke for the New Zealand's Bird of the Century contest. Photo / via video

OPINION:

We may not have a proper Government just yet in New Zealand (any day now, guys…) but what we do have is a Bird of the Century.

This week the mighty pūteketeke ascended to the status of Bird of the Century, in great part because of overseas interference that took the quintessentially New Zealand election to new heights.

Rigged election and personal bird favouritism aside, there’s plenty of reason to celebrate the record number of votes Forest & Bird received following US talk show host John Oliver’s segment about the election and the full impact of what this kind of marketing can do for New Zealand’s conservation efforts.

Of course it all turned into a bit of a joke (and we do need those now more than ever, it feels) but it also had a serious positive impact.

Forest & Bird said the increased number of votes was accompanied by a significant increase in the number of donations they received compared to previous years and that they were “blown away by people’s generosity”.

Ellen Rykers, from Forest & Bird, told the Herald last week: “Behind all the silliness, memes and bird costumes, there’s a serious underlying message: more than 80 per cent of our native birds are threatened or at risk of extinction.”

“Given we love our birds so much, let’s make sure we protect them,” Rykers added.

Ultimately, the goal of the Bird of the Century election was to raise awareness of New Zealand’s endangered native birds. We can argue for a while about which bird deserved the crown more (#justiceforpīwakawaka) but no one can argue awareness was not raised.

While we’re thinking of our wildlife, we should not waste this momentum; so, here’s a reminder to the incoming Government that it has the responsibility to look after the habitat of Aotearoa’s native animals.