This young male kiwi was killed by a car on Whangārei Heads Road early yesterday, sparking a call from kiwi campaigners for motorists to take more care on the road.
He survived wild stoats wanting to rip him apart, Northland's drought and other potential predators, but a young kiwi was no match for a vehicle that ran him over on Whangārei Heads Rd.
Todd Hamilton, from Backyard Kiwi, said a Heads resident saw the bird at the side of the
road, about 100m past the turnoff to The Nook, on their way to work early yesterday.
Hamilton said it was the second kiwi killed on the road in a few weeks — after a female was killed nearby - on what was a "hot spot" for kiwi at night.
''It was pretty dark at the time and there was thick fog so it would have been hard to see him, but it's a real shame. There's heavy traffic on that road in the morning as people go to work and there are a lot of kiwi around,'' he said.
''There are over 900 kiwi in the Heads and some use this road as away of moving around. This fellow was only about 12 months old and was possibly on the road moving out of the area he was in and trying to find a territory for himself.''
Hamilton said the dead kiwi weighed about 1200g and a wild hatched chick that had grown to stoat-proof age thanks to local stoat control.
