Hamilton tiger cubs, kākāpō escapes and an F-bomb: the big stories of January 2024

Hamilton Zoo tiger mum Kirana with her two cubs. Photo / Hamilton Zoo

As the year draws to a close, Waikato Herald is taking stock of 2024. What moved readers most? As part of a 12-day series, Waikato Herald reporter Danielle Zollickhofer looks at the top stories each month. Welcome to day 1: January.

Nationally, January 2024 was the month that Green MP Golriz Ghahraman announced her resignation following shoplifting accusations, before Green Party co-leader James Shaw also announced his resignation to retire from politics.

The provisional 2023 NCEA results were revealed, showing a drop in secondary school pass rates for the third year in a row.

Also, Kīngi Tūheitia hosted the Hui-ā-Motu at Tūrangawaewae Marae, calling for the hui to unify the nation and hold the Government to account.

Further down the Waikato River, several animal stories made the news: Hamilton Zoo tigress Kirana delivered two healthy cubs and the local kākāpō population kept Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari staff on their toes.

First, kākāpō Elwin narrowly escaped death after he escaped the sanctuary and was found in the middle of a road by a tanker driver, then further escapes from his fellow feathered friends resulted in two kākāpō moving back to the South Island.

Elwin was part of the second group of kakapo released at Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari. Photo / Stuart Attwood

Also, the dog of missing Waihī man Jordan van Deursen, 29, was found in January. Van Deursen remains missing to this day, after failing to return from a planned trip to the Wentworth Valley region, an area of forest near Whangamatā.

And the Hamilton City Council byelection, following the resignation of Ryan Hamilton, drew in a range of candidates, including Axel Bech, who was standing in the election, but wasn’t actually seeking people’s votes.

Other big stories in the region were Thames-Coromandel Mayor Len Salt dropping an F-bomb in an email to a constituent.

Jordan van Deursen and his terrier Bagho. Van Deursen has not been seen since October 29, 2023.

Salt’s email was in response to the “aggression” being directed at council staff and elected members from the constituent who accused the council of “extremely unlawful activity”, labelled the council a “fictious [sic] entity” and demanded the personal details and addresses of council staff members.

While the exchange had been nearly a year old, it only made the news earlier this year, when Salt revealed he had a positive response to the way he replied to the email.

Danielle Zollickhofer is a multimedia journalist based in Hamilton. She joined NZME in 2021 and is writing for the Waikato Herald.

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