Chatham Island

According to Forest & Bird, the organisation that runs the competition, the hoiho secured a victory with 6,328 votes - ahead of the Karure Chatham Island black robin with more than 5,000 votes.

Around 800 people live on the larger Chatham Island, with 40 people living on Pitt Island.

The Chatham Island stranding occurred on Saturday, and also involved surviving pilot whales being euthanised.

The settlement took years to achieve in part because of legal challenges from the Maori tribe Ngati Mutunga, whose leadership continues to claim exclusive authority over Chatham Island and fears that amends to Moriori could affect its own settlement.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — On the windswept coast of Chatham Island, about 500 miles east of mainland New Zealand, stands a statue of a thick-jowled, cheerful man, his gaze fixed on the endless sea stretched before him.