RAPTOR: Kāhu (Harrier hawk)
ARRIVED AT THE TRUST: 2018
HOW SHE GOT HER NAME: When she was younger she was smaller than her siblings, like Tom Thumb.
CLAIM TO FAME: Acting! acted as a meta-physical symbol for a murdered character, and in the 2020 production of New Zealand series One Lane Bridge
A group of bulls ran towards the nest or young birds and their parents. The parents were startled and flew away. Tom and her siblings were rescued by a farmer, who found them abandoned in a paddock, harrier hawk/kāhu.
The trust took in Tom with the intention of rehabilitating them back to full health. After days of medicine and physiotherapy Tom's legs grew strong and was able to fly.
Tom has been with the Trust since she was a chick. She came in with her brother and sister, they were abandoned by their parents. We raised them, but Tom got sick, we released her brother and sister back out into the wild and Tom has stayed with us as one of our advocacy birds
When she is not starring on the small screen, Tom has plenty of work to do.
She’s the main advocacy bird for the New Zealand Raptor Trust, she comes round and does school programmes and education with the New Zealand Raptor Trusts team.