Success came in 1994 when Daisy, the only wild origin female to ever lay eggs in captivity, finally accepted a mate.

Subsequently, breeding has occurred every year – wild origin males contributed genes by pairing with captive raised females.

"[3] A tiny population of 25 captive-bred individuals was released on Codfish Island / Whenua Hou in 1999 and 2000, already intensively managed and pest-free as an important habitat for the critically endangered kākāpō.

In the final phase of the ecological restoration of Campbell Island (cattle, sheep and cats had already been removed), the world's largest rat eradication campaign was undertaken by helicopter drops of more than 120 tonnes of poisoned bait over the entirety of the island's 11,331 hectare area in 2001; this operation successfully removed what was estimated to be the world's densest population of Norway rats (200,000) from Campbell Island and it was officially declared rat free in 2003.

By 2011 the species has firmly been returned to Campbell Island, resulting in a reclassification of its threat status to endangered, and vulnerable again in 2020.