The Kea Conservation Trust is a New Zealand conservation non-governmental organization working to protect kea, a large alpine parrot found only in the South Island of New Zealand.[1]
The Kea Conservation Trust was incorporated in 2006 as a charitable trust, then later registered as a charity in 2008.[2] It was founded by current chairperson Tamsin Orr-Walker and three other trustees to raise money for research and to work with other community conservation groups, such as the Fiordland Wapiti Foundation.[3]
Since 2017 Peter Hillary, son of mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary, has been the patron of the Trust.[4] In 2019, Orr-Walker was appointed as a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to kea conservation.[5]
The Trust's activities are diverse and include:[6][7][8][9][10]
As of 2020 the Trust has six trustees, three appointed office-holders, a scientific advisor, two field personnel and a "kea dog" named Ajax, who was the subject of a book and short documentary film.[11][12][13]
