There's a little group of conservation-minded landowners inland from Waverley who want to protect North Island brown kiwi.
One of them is Whanganui man Shaun Walton. A kiwi was released on his 32-hectare bush block in Omahina Rd last week.
Mr Walton has owned the land for 10 years and maintains 24 Taranaki Kiwi Trust traps to keep it free of predators. Mostly he catches rats and hedgehogs, but he got two stoats - the main kiwi killers - recently.
He also shoots and traps possums in the "vibrant, healthy" bush there. Taranaki Kiwi Trust members have collected kiwi eggs on his property and heard three male and two female kiwi calling that night.
The eggs were hatched in captivity and when the chicks were old enough to fight off predators they were released into sanctuaries. In return Mr Walton got a young kiwi to release on his property. It's not from his area, and will widen the local gene pool.