Truckie comes to kiwi’s rescue
An eagle-eyed Taranaki truckie is being praised for saving the life of a kiwi chick from the jaws of a stoat.
Truckie Alan Pennington said he was driving along the remote Waitaanga Rd in north Taranaki last week when he spotted something ‘‘untoward’’ in the roadside ditch.
‘‘I was just going past a papa bluff when I happened to look down and see something in the water table and thought ‘what the hell is that’,’’ Pennington said.
‘‘It was a stoat attacking a kiwi.’’
Pennington slammed on the brakes, jumped out of the truck and stomped his foot on the stoat, which promptly spun around and bit the end of his boot.
He booted the stoat, grabbed the kiwi and jumped up into the cab.
‘‘The poor little guy was covered in papa and very dirty,’’ he said.
Pennington wrapped the chick in a rag and popped him in his lunch bag to keep him safe and calm.
He then rang the Department of Conservation hotline and a ranger took the kiwi to Massey University’s Wildbase Hospital in Palmerston North.
Wildbase spokeswoman Pauline Nijman said the kiwi chick, estimated to be around two months old, was recovering from its ordeal.
‘‘It had grazing and bruising, particularly around its neck and face so we are treating its wounds and have it on antibiotics,’’ she said.
Barring complications the bird would soon be discharged to a predator-free creche until it weighed one kilogram, and was better able to defend itself against stoat attacks.
The kiwi weighed just over 500 grams when it went to Wildbase.
On a return trip past the same spot Pennington said he saw the stoat still searching for its prey.
‘‘It made me realise what focused killers stoats are,’’ he said.
DOC Taranaki operations manager Gareth Hopkins said stoats were the biggest threat to kiwi chicks and without protection only 10 per cent of chicks survive to six months.
‘‘It was fantastic that Alan just happened along at the right moment and took action,’’ Hopkins said.
‘‘He’s saved the life of this young kiwi.’’
In north Taranaki last weekend Tiaki te Mauri o Parininihi Kokako Trust members released a young kiwi 18 months after an offduty police officer found it beside State Highway 3 near Mt Messenger.
The kiwi, named Kewene, had been recovering at the Otorohanga Kiwi House and Massey University’s Wildbase hospital.
Trust project manager Conrad O’Carroll said kiwi numbers were increasing in the trust block due to intensive trapping.