TOP STORY: Thieves set back kiwi hopes

REBECCA STEVENSON
Thieves have put endangered kiwi chicks in even greater peril after they raided their new northern Hawke's Bay sanctuary.
The thieves stole about $25,000 of steel mesh being used to build a predator-proof fence around a kiwi creche at Lake Opouahi, near Tutira.
The 3.3km fence is needed to secure the area from predators but a series of raids during the past six weeks have left contractors short of about 400m of the unique stainless steel mesh.
It is now feared the fence won't be built by the June deadline, missing the winter window to knock out stoats, cats and rats, and delaying introduction of any chicks until breeding season in 2008.
"If the fence is not completed we can't do anything," Department of Conservation (DoC) area manager Nicola Douglas said yesterday.
"The community should be infuriated that this national icon, which could be saved, is being put at risk by these people."
Kiwi could be extinct within 20 years, so one year's delay is a serious setback when the creche could be holding up to 20 kiwi chicks a year, she said.
The Environment, Conservation and Outdoor Education Trust (Ecoed) is building the Opouahi Kiwi Creche with community money and support from DoC. When it is completed it will be the first in the Hawke's Bay.
DoC programme manager John Adams said about 400 kiwi remained in Hawke's Bay, most living in the Kaweka Range. Chicks were taken from nests before they were 10 days old and kept in captivity until they weighed about 1kg, or for up to three months, he said.
Ecoed general manager Alistair Bramley said chicks rescued from monitored nests in the region were taken to Rotorua, where they stayed until they were big enough to fend off most predators.
The situation was not ideal, he said, as they were kept in pens - in a much warmer climate - and were stressed by the travel and change to harsher conditions.
Finishing the local sanctuary and allowing the chicks to grow safely in the wild would mean they grew bigger and faster, increasing their chance of survival, Mr Bramley said.
Contractor Guy Lethbridge said he was angry and extremely disappointed by the theft of the fence mesh.
"The community is being ripped off here," he said.
"The gain in the short term for these selfish individuals may jeopardise the project."
More mesh had been ordered from China but it could take up to four months to arrive, Mr Lethbridge said.
The mesh could have been stolen for resale or to keep pests off marijuana crops.
Mr Bramley said increased security and monitoring around the site, including cameras, would help stop the stealing. An open day is planned at the Lake Opouahi Scenic Reserve, near Tutira, between 10am and 12pm tomorrow.