Latest news with #artificialinsemination
RNZ News
20-05-2025
- Science
- RNZ News
Scientists use artificial insemination to boost kākāpō numbers
The scientific name for kākāpō means 'owl face - soft feathered' (Strigops habroptilus). Photo: Jake Osborne A new study has discovered the use of artificial insemination is improving the fertility of kākāpō. It isn't the first time scientists have tried the method, with the first trial in 2009. But this time a team of German scientists from the University of Giessen was called in to help out. Kākāpō numbers have bounced back from just 51 birds in the 1990s, to 242 today. Co-author of the study and Department of Conservation's science advisor Dr Andrew Digby told Morning Report the team members have been refining their methods since the first success in 2019, but the method was not easy. "Doing it in the wild is actually really, really difficult," he said. "First of all, you've got to find and catch the male that you want, and then you've got to get the sperm from him, and you use a massage technique for that. "Then we've got to get the sperm to the female, and that's not an easy task because sometimes the female can be quite a long way away." Next they've got to catch the female and inseminate her, which can be hard if she is up a tree for example, Dr Digby said. Kākāpō numbers have bounced back from just 51 birds in the 1990s, to 242 today. Photo: Jake Osborne Dr Digby explained these challenges are why it has been quite a long time between the team being successful with the method. Kākāpō have a low genetic diversity, which is one of the reasons Dr Digby and his team are using artificial insemination to help grow numbers. "We've got some males who have been trying to mate for decades, but they've never been successful," he said. "We are giving them a bit of a helping hand to ensure that their genes carry on into future generations." Dr Digby said his team have been working with scientists from around the world, as the skills required to do the work are "incredibly specialised". "This German team have got a lot of experience with inseminating parrots, but even they found that the kākāpō is quite different to all of the other parrots. "Ultimately this is a relatively short-term measure. We want to be as natural as possible, we want them to do it for themselves." Kākāpō only breed every two to four years, and Dr Digby was confident 2026 would be a very big breeding season as it will be four years since the last one. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Daily Mail
15-05-2025
- Daily Mail
Female prison officer tried to smuggle syringe into jail in bid to 'artificially inseminate' herself with rapist inmates baby, court told
A female prison officer tried to smuggle a syringe into jail in a bid to artificially inseminate herself with an 'exceptionally dangerous' rapist inmate's baby, a court has been told. Cherri-Ann Austin-Saddington, 29, became besotted with sex offender Bradley Trengrove after he was moved to HMP The Verne in Portland, Dorset. The pair embarked on a six month relationship which involved them often having sex in prison workshops while nobody was around, Bournemouth Crown Court heard. The lag claimed they had unprotected sex 30-40 times and the court was told she even got pregnant by him - although she later lost the baby. Austin-Saddington was so infatuated with Trengrove, 31, that she went along with a bizarre plan to get pregnant by him again. During a visit after he had been moved to another prison she smuggled in an empty Calpol syringe in her bra so she could 'artificially inseminate' herself with his sperm he had wrapped in cling film for her, the court was told. Austin-Sadddington sent Trengrove intimate photos while he was at Channings Wood, but these were intercepted by staff. On May 26 she visited him under a false name. During a pat down search officers found she was not wearing any underwear and had the empty syringe in her bra and she was arrested. During the affair, Austin-Saddington smuggled a mobile phone into the Category C prison for her lover so they could communicate. The mother-of-three saved his name in her mobile under 'husband to be', a court heard. Austin-Saddington, from Weymouth, was given a suspended sentence after pleading guilty to charges of misconduct in a public office only because she has been left wheelchair-bound having suffered a fall following her crimes. Trengrove, from Cramborne, Cornwall, was already serving a 13 year extended jail sentence for raping a woman and having sexual activity with a child in 2013 and 2014. He was given another two years and three months to serve on top of his original sentence for his part in the sordid affair. Bournemouth Crown Court heard Austin-Saddington started working as a prison officer at The Verne in July 2019. She was given a written warning in 2020 for concerns over her professionalism and interaction with prisoners. Her probationary period was extended because she was suspected of having an inappropriate relationship with two prisoners. In January 2022, Trengrove was transferred to the same jail where Gary Glitter served his sentence. Austin-Saddington began a relationship with Trengrove in around August 2022 with him telling police they had sex 30-40 times in a workshop at the prison. Robert Bryan, prosecuting, read out some gushing messages the prison officer sent Trengrove, stating he was 'the one', that she would love him 'til my last breath' and he was her 'reason for living'. Mr Bryan said: 'He said things moved on from being friendly in August-September 2022. He said 'I did maintenance work around the prison, there were lots of workshops, we would meet down at the workshops where less people were around. 'It got to the point she was coming in for work on days off and we would work together for three or four hours at a time.' 'He said they had unprotected sex 30-40 times. She told him in November she was pregnant with his baby. He encouraged her to be less risky but she said that would mean less opportunity to meet. 'She lost the baby at about eight weeks.' Trengrove was moved to HMP Channings Wood in Devon in March 2023. Emily Cook, defending Austin-Saddington, argued that her client should not be jailed due to her ill-health. She said: 'She had this incredibly devastating physical event that has occurred since her offending. 'In February 2024, her then partner awoke to find her on the floor. She doesn't know how but something was going on with her spine. 'She is wheelchair-dependent. She has had her liberty curtailed for many months, not by the court but by her ill health. 'You can see from the messaging, they formed a very intense and infatuated relationship. She takes full responsibility for what she did. She is very ashamed and upset. 'You are not sentencing the woman who committed these offences, she's a very different woman now.' Nick Robinson, defending Trengrove, said it was a 'genuine infatuation' and he was not corrupting her. He said: 'Everything was driven towards having conversation with someone he genuinely cared about. 'Before this he was a good prisoner, working hard towards the earliest possible release. 'He knew what he was doing, his heart ruled his head.' Judge Jonathan Fuller KC told Austin-Saddington: 'The prison service expects the highest standards from their employees. 'Failure to apply those standards can have an enormous and lasting impact on the prisons, the care of inmates, the integrity which is to be maintained and, of course, public confidence. 'Your betrayal of that trust represents a serious and prolonged misconduct by someone in public office. 'I am mindful of your current physical state and pending rehabilitation. For that reason only I reduce the sentence in order to suspend it. 'Had it not been for the accident that befell Miss Austin-Saddington the sentence would have been an immediate sentence of imprisonment.' He added: 'The intensity of their feelings towards each other, as shown in the messages, could perhaps be described as mutual obsession with each other. The expressed intention was that they should spend the rest of their lives together. 'This was a relationship of equal halves, both making the wrong decision.' Austin-Saddington admitted misconduct in a public office and conveying a mobile phone into a prison. She was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for 18 months with 25 rehabilitation activity days. Trengrove admitted encouraging or assisting her in the misconduct, having a mobile phone inside prison and using it for 'unauthorised transmission of images or sound'. After the case, Detective Inspector Alastair Quinn, of the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit (SWROCU), said: 'We are committed to working with our region's prisons to root out corruption and will be looking to take similar action against other prisoners who seek to corrupt prison staff. 'Clearly, by entering into a relationship with a prisoner, Austin-Saddington was herself also committing a serious offence and undermining the already challenging work her former colleagues do.'
