The New Zealand Kiwi Conservation

When the Maori arrived in New Zealand there were about 12 million Kiwi. Their numbers fell slowly until 1930 when there were only 5 million left. Today there is thought to be only 50,000 to 60,000 Kiwi left and that number is decreasing rapidly.

Graph showing decline of Kiwi population

The Problem
The problem is mainly that the Kiwi chicks are being killed by dogs, cats, ferrets, stoats, and weasels. Only 5% of the chicks are surviving to adult age, this means that less eggs are being laid every year and so the problem is getting rapidly worse.
The present population is now halving every year.
Now as most of the Kiwi close to farms and houses have been killed by cats and dogs, the Kiwi's biggest threat is the stoat. To be safe from a stoat attack a Kiwi has to be about a year old.

THE STOAT was introduced from Europe and is now found in all parts of New Zealand.

Photo of stoat

They can cover between 70 to 80 km's in a few weeks, and eat 25% of their body weight daily. They breed quickly, a male will mate with the mother and all female babies as soon as they are born. The babies are pregnant when they leave the nest, so their numbers are growing rapidly.

The Solution
In 1991 the New Zealand Government realised that the Kiwi could soon become extinct. They started the Kiwi Recovery Programme with the help of the Bank of New Zealand, and the Forest and Bird Society. The programmes long term goal is "To maintain and where possible enhance the current abundance, distribution and genetic diversity of kiwi."

The main methods of the programme are research, education, Operation Nest Egg, and developing sanctuaries.

Research is being done on the Kiwi to try and discover anything about their breeding habits that may let us help them breed faster, for example would having more food available mean that the females would lay more eggs?
Another research project is looking at the DNA of the Kiwi to help identify unrelated birds that would breed a stronger chick.
The animals that threaten the Kiwi are also being researched to try and discover the best ways to kill them or at least how to control their numbers.

Education is thought to be the most powerful weapon in the fight to save the Kiwi. If every landowner knew the threat that stoats and weasels were to the kiwi, and helped kill them, the kiwis chance of survival would be a lot greater. Also farmers could fence patches of bush on their farms to make places for kiwi to live. Educating town people about the danger to the kiwi from their dogs when they take them into the countryside is also important. One of the best methods of educating people is being done by Robert Webb from the Northland Kiwi Recovery Centre and Snoopy.

Snoopy is a Brown Kiwi who lost one of his legs in a possum trap and was saved by Robert. Snoopy can never go back to the wild and so he is taken to schools and groups that are interested in Kiwis. Because Kiwis are nocturnal and quite rare, Snoopy is the only Kiwi most New Zealanders will ever get to see close up.

Photo of Robert Webb and Snoopy
Robert Webb and Snoopy

Operation Nest Egg is a way of trying to increase the chick's chance of survival. The eggs are taken from the Kiwi and hatched at institutions like the Mount Bruce National Wildlife Centre, the Auckland Zoo, or the Native Bird Recovery Centre in Whangarei. These chicks are released back into the wild when they are old enough to fend for themselves.
Operation Nest Egg increases a chick's survival chances from 5% to 85%. It has been very successful with the Okarito Brown Kiwi whose population has increased by 15 percent to 160 birds since Operation Nest Egg began.

Sanctuaries are another way the Kiwi Recovery Programme is trying to help the Kiwi. They give the Kiwi a place to breed that is free from danger where they can be looked after. So far there have been five sanctuaries set up by this programme. They are in the Coromandel, the Tongariro Forest, Okarito, Haast, and Whangarei and more are planned. The largest sanctuary is at Haast, it is 18,000 ha. and is the home of 150 Haast Tokoeka.
There are many other sanctuaries around New Zealand that are helping to protect the Kiwi. These have been set up by private people, groups, or local councils.

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Links to More Information
The Kiwi Recovery Programme
Operation Nest Egg