Thanks to electric car, kiwi chick starts life in Hawke's Bay with a light footprint

KiwionMove.JPG Volunteer and former soldier Marcus Hayes-Jones with Horse the kiwi chick in the carrier box. Photo / Supplied

By Louise Gould

A kiwi chick has been safely transported to Hawke's Bay to start a new life in an entirely eco-friendly trip.

The eastern brown kiwi chick was recently hatched at the National Kiwi Hatchery in Rotorua - the national leader in kiwi husbandry, egg incubation, hatching techniques and kiwi chick rearing.

The chick, named Horse, needed to be transported to a new Napier-based kiwi crèche to grow bigger and stronger before being released back into the wild.

Horse was driven to the kiwi crèche in an electric Nissan Leaf on Tuesday.

Volunteer Marcus Hayes-Jones, a former soldier, said he jumped at the opportunity to transport a treasured national bird in a totally sustainable way.

Horse travelled in a special carry box to keep him safe and warm. The boxes are kept dark like a kiwi burrow, and filled with moss and fern leaves.

Hayes-Jones is aiming to drive the return Napier to Rotorua journey without stopping for a charge.

"I'll be driving 222km, and the Leaf has a range of about 265km," he said.

"This is a fantastic way to demonstrate how you can effectively use an electric vehicle for all types of tasks."

Hayes-Jones, along with Horse, was meant to make the trip on Monday, but delayed the journey after a serious crash on State Highway 5.

The kiwi crèche in Napier, run in partnership by national charity Kiwis for kiwi and Napier City Council, had its first residents arrive earlier this week.

Horse and the other chicks will live at the crèche until they are about 1kg in weight and are able to defend themselves against stoats, before being released into predator-managed forest.

Napier's crèche will have a big part to play in boosting numbers of the eastern brown kiwi, which is the most vulnerable variety of North Island brown kiwi.