Department of Conservation, Waldman subsequently left New Zealand. A captive-breeding programme was established at the University of Canterbury in 2002 to safeguard the species from disease, and frogs successfully bred. The programme was transferred to Auckland Zoo in 2005, where over half of the frogs, including juveniles bred at the Canterbury facility, died. Some of the remaining frogs produced offspring in December 2012, of which seven still survived as of February, 2013. After 8 years of failed attempts to get the frogs to breed at Auckland Zoo, zookeepers claimed "a massive and internationally important victory". Based on an Auckland Zoo press release that promoted their new public display of adult Archey's frogs, the Auckland Zoo breeding was widely but inaccurately reported as representing the first time the frogs had successfully reproduced in captivity. Auckland Zoo, Otago University, and James Cook University researchers attribute the mortality and reproductive failures at Auckland Zoo in part to metabolic bone disease, which they determined had not been a problem in the Canterbury facility. The species is categorised as Nationally Vulnerable under the New Zealand Threat Classification System and as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List. Rats and the introduced green and golden bell frog are known to kill Archey's frogs. Introduced predators known to predate other frog species in New Zealand, such as pigs, cats, hedgehogs and ferrets, are also likely to have an impact. See also Frogs of New Zealand References External links Archey's frog featured on RNZ Our Changing World, 28 April 2016 Archey's frog discussed on RNZ's Critter of the Week, 30 October 2015 Leiopelmatidae Amphibians of New Zealand Endemic fauna of New Zealand Endangered biota of New Zealand Amphibians described in 1942 Endemic amphibians of New Zealand