Or ana Park to the rescue?

Press, 9 March 1988, Page 2

Or ana Park to the rescue?

I !■ By GLEN PERKINSON Orana I Park j might have saved one kiwi’s bacon. i The McLeans Island reserve is set to become the new home of Christchurch’s most observed kiwi. ; The 750 kg kiwi has sat on top of a building at the corner of Colombo Street and Carlyle Street advertising Kiwi Bacon for about 13 years. I Kiwi Bacon no longer wanted the distinctive advertisement and the bird’s owner, Neon Signs, was [forced to remove it because it could not re-leaise the advertising space. The familiar I kiwi was yesterday about to be trucked away from its home and possibly demolished. But an eleventh-hour call by “The Press” to Mr Paul Garland, Orana Park’s director, could see the endangered kiwi I saved and transformed into an attraction at the wildlife park. j Mr Garland and Mr Peter Inder, of Claude

Neon Signs, will meet this morning to see if the bird can be adopted. The kiwi is one of three similar birds in New Zealand. Its Auckland counterpart has been listed by the Historic Places Trust as a landmark and is protected. However, Christchurch’s kiwi and another in Palmerston North do not share that protection. “Auckland’s kiwi on New North Road has been there for decades,” said Mr Inder. Late last year when the sign company first decided the kiwi had to go, Mr Inder could not find it another home. Many amusement parks and museums closed their doors on the bird. But today it will know if it will be saved from going to another place. The kiwi used to revolve but the noise of the motor driving it “drove workers in the building below crazy.”