Keen interest in release of kiwi | Northland News | Local News in Northland

Releasing kiwi pulls big crowds at Ngunguru, where about 130 people turned out to watch 10 kiwi being released.

About 80 people turned out to see seven birds freed on Saturday and 50 watched three more kiwi released yesterday.

The kiwi came from eggs collected in the Whangarei district which were incubated at Auckland Zoo and the chicks raised on Motuora Is, off Mahurangi Harbour, until at 18 months they are considered capable of fending off most predators, apart from dogs.

It was a magic moment for 27 youngsters from Ngunguru Primary School when Department of Conservation officer Miriam Ritchie and landowner Mike Camm showed them the kiwi to be released yesterday.

The children had been told to be quiet, but their eager expressions and little hands reaching to gently stroke the kiwi feathers showed how impressed they were by the close-up meeting with our national namesake.

The birds were released on about 2500ha of bush and reverted farmland inland from Ngunguru which Mr Camm and about 30 other landowners in the Tutukaka Landcare Coalition keep clear of dogs to protect the estimated 200 kiwi residents.

Mr Camm and his wife, Jane, bought their 120ha block about 12 years and have been living there nine years.

Now retired, Mr Camm puts a lot of effort into trapping possums, stoats, wild cats and rats which can prey on young kiwi. He said the landowners catch about 50 stoats annually along with a good tally of other predators.

The Tutukaka Landcare Coalition is one of about 60 kiwi protection groups in Northland.

Mr Camm said the  groups wanted to expand their pest trapping to create an east coast corridor free of kiwi predators from Bream Head to Mimiwhangata.

"Kiwi have been around for 80 million years and we want to ensure they stay with us."