AILING KIWI

Press, Issue 32345, 10 July 1970, Page 1

AILING KIWI

(N.Z.P.A. Staff Correspondents OSAKA, July 9. One of the two kiwis the Prime Minister (Sir Keith Holyoake) formally presented to the Osaka Zoo today, is still recovering from the long air trip and was not on show at the official ceremony.

A zoo official said the male kiwi had suffered during the Right and could not be moved from its specially-built pen “It is more important that he survive than attend the ceremony,” he said. The kiwis, the first seen in Japan, arrived a week ago. The female is in good shape but the male was very weak and is slowly recovering on a 10-item diet including earthworms, insects, strawberries, green peas, beef and chicken. Formally handing over the birds, the Prime Minister said: “It is not often that we allow kiwis to leave New Zealand but there could be no more appropriate gift to mark our country’s participation in Expo 70. “In spite of the different conditions of Osaka and New Zealand they should feel as much at home in Japan as all other New Zealanders.” About 120 people, including 50 five-year-old kindergarten pupils, attended the ceremony at Osaka’s Tennoji Zoological Gardens. Through Expo 70 and various trade promotion efforts the kiwi has become widely recognised in Japan as a national symbol of New Zealand. Stylised representations -of the kiwi are freely displayed in the New Zealand pavilion and kiwi pin badges have become one of Expo’s most coveted souvdnirs.