Wet and wild success story

Lancashire’s Martin Mere Wetland Centre is celebrating a success in the wild for one of its rarest species.

The Hawaiian goose, known as a nene (pronounced nay-nay), was driven to near extintion in the 1950s when only 30 were left in the world.

Martin Mere Wetland Centre founder Sir Peter Scott brought a pair to the UK and bred them until there was a large enough flock to return to the island of Maui, where they previously lived. There are now about 2,500 on Hawaii, Maui, Molokai and Kauai islands, and last week for the first time a pair were spotted on the island of Oahu. The pair made their own way to the island, and it’s the first time they’ve been seen there since the 1700s. The nene is still the world’s rarest goose, and WWT continues to breed them today. You can meet and feed one of these very special geese every day at Martin Mere.

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