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Kids for Kea Conservation – inspiring the next generation of kea conservationists
Tamsin Orr-Walker, Kea Conservation Trust Funded by the Lion Foundation Produced by Roland Kahurangi
The Kea Conservation Trust’s new Kids for Kea Conservation DVD aims to promote kea conservation to children and actively encourage and inspire them to engage in direct conservation actions. It consists of a number of short film clips which include: the KCT’s promotional video; video interviews of kea researchers and zoos conducted by the stars of the DVD – students from Aoraki/Mt Cook School; several fun activities that children can get involved in to teach others about kea (again starring Mt Cook students) such as making their own kea conservation video, informative posters and inspirational artworks. Also included in the DVD are some wonderful original poems and songs performed by Wanaka singer songwriter Martin Curtis and Mt Cook school children, singing along to a backdrop of stunning footage of kea and their mountain home. As well as creating a great resource for schools and children all around New Zealand, development of the DVD provided a great learning opportunity for the children at Mt Cook School during 2012. Not only did they learn all about kea in their own backyard, but they also learned that through their actions they could generate real conservation outcomes.
Photos: Tamsin Orr-Walker
many school kids get to do this so we are really lucky they made it about us [and] I’m sure that what we said on the video is really going to help other kiwi kids to save the kea”. Principal of the school, Coral Butler, also felt that the school’s involvement in the production of the DVD was a positive experience “It was an excellent opportunity for the kids to learn about some of the processes in making a movie (ie. considering lighting, close-ups, variety of angles, spontaneity, relevance of script, location etc). We recently had NHNZ at school as part of the film series ‘Wild about NZ’. Harry very much enjoyed listening to the narrator’s style and he has been trying this in the filming we did on our camp in the Catlins last week. He is putting together a mini documentary called ‘Should the Catlins become a National Park?’. I guess the inspiration to do this has
come from the kea movie, as he has been simulating interviewing ‘members of the public’ to get their views. So it has been a very inspirational experience for him (and the other children) – as he now recognises that this type of work can actually have a much wider audience and resulting impact rather than just our classroom”.
“The most important thing I enjoyed was actually doing the video so we can help other kiwi kids [understand kea]. I felt proud of what we have all done. Not 13
Photo: Coral Butler
This was very clearly spelled out by one of the stars of the DVD, nine-year-old Harry.