Kiwi returned to ancestral whenua
Nine endangered kiwi have been returned to the land of their ancestors almost two decades after their predecessors were saved from predators in the Tongariro Forest.
After a pōwhiri welcoming the western brown kiwi home, they were released into the 20,000ha Tongariro Forest Kiwi Sanctuary by members of Ngāti Hikairo ki Tongariro and Ngāti Korokı¯ Kahukura, alongside Conservation Minister Willow-Jean Prime, Department of Conservation staff and members of Save the Kiwi.
The homecoming was celebrated by members of both iwi after Ngāti Hikairo ki Tongariro gifted guardianship of four kiwi chicks to Ngāti Korokı¯ Kahukura in 2005.
Those four kiwi were the first residents of predator-free Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari, near Cambridge, and their descendants will, in time, help restore kiwi populations in the reserve with another 60 birds set to join them in the coming weeks.
‘‘Eighteen years ago, rangatira had the vision to place a group of vulnerable Tongariro kiwi under the care of Ngāti Korokı¯ Kahukura and safeguard them at Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari in the Waikato,’’ Prime said.
‘‘Today we were privileged to witness this kaitiakitanga come full circle as the kiwi returned home.
‘‘An incredible reciprocity between these two hapū has made this release possible,’’ she said.
Last Friday, nine juvenile and adult kiwi were transported in purpose-built travel boxes from Sanctuary Mountain to the base of Mt Tongariro.
Ngāti Hikairo ki Tongariro kaumātua Te Ngaehe Wanikau was part of the original group who accompanied the four kiwi to
Maungatautari back in 2005.
‘‘When Ngāti Hikairo ki Tongariro gifted those original birds, we handed over the role and responsibility of kaitiaki of the kiwi to Ngāti Korokı¯ Kahukura at the same time,’’ he said.
‘‘We needed to have comfort that the kiwi would be cared for and protected for the long term. Returning the offspring of these birds back to Ngāti Hikairo ki Tongariro reflects how well Ngāti
Korokı¯ Kahukura cared for these kiwi.’’
Since the first four kiwi were released at Sanctuary Mountain, more than 400 kiwi chicks from the western region of the North Island joined them, creating a founder population on the maunga.
Today, an estimated 2000 to 2500 kiwi now call Maungatautari home.
The release also acknowledges the tikanga of tono (a process of asking for and exchanging taonga between iwi), said Ngāti Korokı¯ Kahukura representative Tao Tauroa.
‘‘[It] is significant because the terms of the original tono are being honoured, and although many of those involved in the tono have passed on, the intent of the rangatira (elders) remains.
‘‘Eighteen years ago, the maunga was bereft of kiwi,’’ Tauroa said.
‘‘Thanks to Ngāti Hikairo ki Tongariro, this taonga species has returned to a place where it once thrived.
‘‘Now with deep gratitude, it is an honour and privilege to return these mokopuna of the original founders to their maunga, whenua and people, and for their founder role in reversing the decline of western brown kiwi population for Aotearoa.’’
The kiwi population in Tongariro Forest Kiwi Sanctuary is protected by an extensive predator control programme including trapping and threeyearly toxin operations, managed by the Department of Conservation.
Over the past five years, kiwi eggs have been collected from the wild and incubated in a purpose-built incubation facility, the Crombie Lockwood Kiwi Burrow in Wairakei, near Taupō.
They are released into Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari when they are approximately one month old.
This series of releases to Tongariro will be the first of what is expected to become several large-scale releases from Maungatautari, thanks to Save the Kiwi’s Kōhanga Kiwi repopulation strategy, the National Kiwi Hatchery, Wairakei Golf and Sanctuary,
Project Tongariro, Owhango Alive, the Department of Conservation, and volunteers.
The kiwi population on the maunga is now doing so well that progeny birds of the founder population can be gifted to other sites in the western region, to bolster existing kiwi populations or create new ones.