Port Marlborough and team of specialist staff rehome all EcoWorld animals

Melbourne, moving large animals,” he said.

By Maia Hart, Local Democracy Reporter

Other than one salmon found to be in “extremely poor health”, all animals from EcoWorld Aquarium have been released or rehomed – even a stingray.

Port Marlborough took possession of the building and its animals in December, after Justice David Gendall gave aquarium owner John Reuhman 20 working days to vacate the land. It came after a week-long High Court case in September, after John Reuhman claimed he had a right to renew his lease.

Among the specialist staff that helped relocate the remaining animals was aquarium consultant Craig Thorburn – specifically tasked with helping relocate the stingray.

A marine biologist by trade, a “big part” of Thorburn’s 35-year career was spent handling large animals, like sharks and rays, across Asia and the Pacific.

“Some of those have been flown around the world, or moved between aquariums. We’ve done a lot of work in Australia between Sydney and

Speaking from Seoul in South Korea where Thorburn was working on a large aquarium project, he said moving the EcoWorld stingray was fairly simple.

In fact, it was released just beside the aquarium, into Picton harbour.

“Initially we were going to give them advice on how best to handle the stingray, because they clearly have a barb on their tails, and they can be dangerous,” he said.

“They’re a really good-natured animal ... but it’s a pretty new experience for any animal when you move it and introduce it to a new environment.”

Thorburn said the stingray was assessed by Dr James Chatterton, manager of Veterinary Services at Auckland Zoo.

“I had a chat with James on his take on the animal, and he felt the stingray was in really good condition, and he was pretty happy for its release,” Thorburn said.

He said the stingray was guided into a plastic tub, with a small amount of anaesthetic provided by Kelly Tarlton’s Aquarium, to help reduce its stress.

“We moved him through to a stretcher and carried him out to a temporary tank outside, so we could pause and let him come out of the anaesthetic,” he said. He said they made sure he was breathing and alert, before the tank was “craned into the water”. “He just swam straight out, did a couple little circles and then just started to explore ... it went amazingly well, we were super happy.”

Reuhman had said that closing the aquarium when the lease ended in 2021 would be a “death sentence” for a lot of the animals.

Reuhman said some animals would have to be euthanised as they would not survive in the wild.

But the High Court decision from Justice Gendall said Reuhman’s claims of slaughter were “unfortunate to say the least”.

The port complained Reuhman deliberately made inflammatory and misleading comments to the wider Picton community and the media.

Three Cook Strait tuatara and one Brothers Island tuatara were moved to Lochmara Lodge in February ahead of their permanent release into the Marlborough Sounds at a later date.

The spokesperson said rehoming the stingray was the biggest challenge. “Expert advice we were given signalled that due to the high population of stingray already in this area, and