Breeding bid to save rare spotted kiwi

Press, 2 September 1980, Page 13

Breeding bid to save rare spotted kiwi

?A •' Nelson A D’Urville. Island’s three j little. spotted kiwis have been taken to Oiorohanga in a bid to save what , could be a rare kiwi sub* species. ' " ‘Tn.e little spotted Kiwi - is by far the rarest of the •three species of kiwi and : a Nelson - wildlife officer, Mr-Keith Owen, believes the D’Urville Island birds ; could be.. an' even rarer sub-species. ' Wildlife Service staff began field work on the island , in . 1978. Mr Owen said that wild pigs on the < island had been found, to I be destroying the kiwis’ habitat with a resulting decline; in the kiwi population. .' f .. . ' 'Because,, the birds’ fut- 1 . ure dld not seem promis-ing,-/the service began .’-T capture the kiwis butz -< ■three ■ were found: two males.;, ahdf -ode.’ female. Tney i.are believed - to be .1 the only'bnes left . “Tfthere had been a reasonable'’ .population we Would’. • have. left them a - safe .situation but - were only a fewSwrfook them off to . stopfthem Being wiped out altogether,”' said Mr Owen. , - . Initially the two males were sent to the Otorohanga- kiwi • house • and the female was put on Maud 1 Island.-But . as it is the kiwi breeding season the <

female has also been sent north in the hope that the kiwis will breed. Their future permanent home has yet to be decided. ■ ■ • *' Mr Owen said that it had only been • realised in 1975 .that the D’Urville Island kiwi was the little spotted'Species. Once, common in both the North Island and the South Island, the little spotted kiwi had disappearedin the- North Island before 1900 and recent surveys by. the Wildlife Service foiind .no trace of it anywhere on the South Island mainland. Five birds were liberated on Kapiti Island early this century and the population has now .built up to 500 to 600 birds. .D’Urville Island was the •only -other known: habitat but Mr Owen said it was now believed that the D’Urville birds were a sub-species. "They are noticeably heavier, than the birds on Kapiti and the service is looking further to try to determine if they: are, in fact, different,” he said, “In the meantime ,we are treating them as if they are.” He said discussions were being held about where the three kiwis should finally go. They could continue to pe kept in captivity or be released on a predator-free island.