I saw this today - one of my past vet nursing students and work colleague, helping with an injured albatross.
"A massive albatross that was injured in Friday's stormy weather is now recovering at Wellington Zoo.
The female northern royal albatross - with a massive wingspan of more than 3m - was found injured in a back yard of a home in Wainuiomata.
"It must have given them quite a shock," said spokesperson Matt Kennard.
The bird, one of only 30,000 in the wild, is currently being treated at Wellington Zoo's hospital, The Nest. "
We were in Kaikoura on Friday, taking the students up for the annual swim with the dolphins... and we got hit by the storm. Torrential rain, then hail, wind, thunder and lightning saw us sheltering in a local pub, watching the shopkeepers trying to avoid being flooded, but luckily it passed over quickly and left us with sunny skies and calm seas the next day!
http://www.stuff.co.nz/marlborough-express/news/3451382/Sudden-hailstorm-batt...
These majestic birds rarely need to land - which makes it difficult to nurse them in a cage without damaging their delicate feet. This one has a special rubber padding cage insert to protect it...
You can see more pictures and read about the albatross in Kaikoura, which often circle the boats over the dolphins,
http://www.albatrossencounter.co.nz/
or we also have an albatross breeding colony in Dunedin
http://www.albatross.org.nz/index.html
or check out wikipaedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albatross
