Sirocco had an uncertain start to life, suffering a respiratory illness at three weeks old while being reared by his mother, Zephyr. Subsequently, he became the first male kākāpō to be hand reared.

Sirocco was eventually deemed fit and ready to survive in the wild. He was released to roam the island, but the call of the wild wasn’t so loud for Sirocco. His intensive hand-rearing and lack of kākāpō company had led him to imprint on humans. He was more interested in us than his own kind and was unlikely to breed.