Orana Wildlife Trust

For over 40 years, Orana Wildlife Trust (a registered charity) has operated Orana Wildlife Park, New Zealand’s only open range zoo. Orana generates over 95% of its income through gate takings and separately raises 100% of funds for all capital projects.

Orana specialises in providing amazing animal encounters – visitors can hand feed giraffe, meet rhino ‘face-to-face’, travel through the Lion Reserve, see New Zealand’s only gorillas, observe kiwi and encounter mischievous kea in a walk-through aviary. Visitors can enjoy the antics of cheetah, painted dogs, Tasmanian devils, monkeys, meerkats and much more.

Orana makes a meaningful contribution to native species conservation and is internationally recognised for its involvement in a number of exotic species breeding programmes, notably cheetah. Park staff are proud to be involved in Department of Conservation breed for release recovery programmes for endangered NZ species: blue duck (whio), brown teal (pateke) and orange-fronted parakeet - a Nationally Critical Species found only in Canterbury. The Park is also involved in the captive component of the kiwi recovery programme.

Education and advocacy is a key area of focus. The Park delivers formal education programmes to around 10,000 Canterbury school children each year. These are endorsed and monitored by the Ministry of Education and are linked to conservation actions relevant to the school community. Park visitors are exposed to "take home messages”, such as: keeping a dog on a leash to protect kiwi to motivate visitors to take part in actions that lead to a sustainable lifestyle.

Our team has extensive plans for the ongoing evolution of Orana Wildlife Park for the benefit of our region and staff will continue to work hard fundraising for capital projects and key animal imports.