Kiwi deaths prompt warning
A kiwi found dead in one of New Zealand’s highest density populations has sparked calls to keep dogs out of the Waitangi Forest.
DOC senior ranger biodiversity Adrian Walker is urging dog owners to keep their animals out of Waitangi Forest so it can continue to be a refuge for our national icon.
‘‘It’s a special place for kiwi and other wildlife, it has one of the highest density kiwi populations in a pine plantation in the country.’’
An adult female was found dead by a cyclist on a road leading into the forest from the Kerikeri end, in July. Northland Forest Managers staff retrieved the kiwi before reporting it to DOC. A Massey University vet confirmed the death was the result of a dog attack.
DNA was recovered from two different dogs involved in the attack and entered into a DNA database established after seven kiwi were killed in nearby Wharau Rd area in 2015, Walker says.
Signs have since been placed at the Kerikeri entrance to the forest.
Also in July, a dog, which was understood to be off leash, grabbed and killed a kiwi from roadside shrub land in Kaeo.
In September another adult kiwi was run over by a car in Doves Bay. It was transported to the Whangarei Native Bird Recovery Centre where its injuries proved too severe and it had to be euthanised.
Later that month, a kiwi was found in a leg hold trap in Russell, but survived.
‘‘We ask all trappers to keep their leghold traps at least 70 cm above the ground,’’ Walker says.
‘‘With the latest roadkill we’ve had at least 70 kiwi run over on just three local roads in the Bay of Islands in the past 30 years. In the last couple of months, kiwi have been caught in traps, hit by vehicles and killed by dogs, those things are all within people’s control to some extent.
‘‘The community love kiwi and everyone can do their bit to help.’’
He says the death of adult kiwi, can have a significant impact on kiwi populations.
‘‘The Waitangi Forest population has taken around 30 years to reach reasonable calling rates and densities of birds, after two incidents in the 1980s, in particular when a single dog wiped out hundreds of kiwi in 1987.’’