[3] Austral snipe are extinct on the mainland of New Zealand but continue to survive on several subantarctic islands.

By 2001 the rats on Campbell Island had been eradicated (at the time, the largest eradication of rats as a conservation effort in the world) and it was hoped that the snipe would naturally return to their original home.

[3] In 2006 BDG Synthesis funded a search effort on Campbell Island.

They also intended to acquire DNA for analysis and comparison with the extinct mainland species.

This news was greeted with relief as it was thought that the species would have to be re-introduced from Jacquemart Island through human intervention.