The International Union for Conservation of Nature declared the kākāpō extinct in the wild in 1994, but by 2000, conservation efforts successfully saved the species from extinction and it was declared critically endangered in 2000.
Kākāpōs were abundant throughout the the North Island, South Island and Stewart Island in New Zealand before humans arrived; today, they live on Whenua Hou (Codfish Island), Anchor Island and Te Hauturu-o-Toi (Little Barrier Island).
A major threat to these flightless birds is the presence of invasive mammalian predators like cats — which hunt kākāpōs — and stoats and rats, which eat kākāpō eggs. Today, all introduced predators which threaten kākāpōs have been removed from their protected habitat to create predator-free islands.