No happy ending this time

TOUGH START: The little kiwi wasn't in great shape when it arrived at a Kaitaia veterinary clinic. PICTURE/SUPPLIED

Help arrived too late for a juvenile kiwi, believed to be male, that was delivered to a Kaitaia veterinary clinic last week.

The bird had been caught in a fenn trap, designed to catch rats and mustelids, on the east coast. X-rays ruled out initial fears that its leg had been broken, but the leg was swollen and infested with maggots, and may have sustained ligament and nerve damage. The bird was also weak and dehydrated.

Lesley Baigent (Total Kiwi Services) delivered the kiwi to Far North Vets and Pets in Kaitaia, where the leg was splinted and bandaged and fluids were given via a stomach tube. It was then to have been dispatched to Massey University in Palmerston North for further care. Lesley hoped it would make a full recovery and be returned to the Far North, but that was not to be.

With no blood getting to its foot, and given the extent of the damage, she made the difficult decision on Friday morning to euthanase it.

"I was going to keep it here for a few days so it could grow a little stronger before it went to Massey, but it wasn't going to get better," she said.

The trapper was gutted, but she said he was not at all responsible. Fenn traps did a good job of protecting kiwi from predators, the problem being the releasing of pigs into areas where pigs should not be.

"Pigs go for the bait and expose the traps, and this time an unlucky kiwi walked into it and was caught," she said.

"Pigs root around the traps too, which attracts kiwi. If it wasn't for the pigs there would be no danger to these birds, and this one would not have died. Trapping predators is necessary if we are going to protect kiwi, and this is the worst possible scenario."

Wendy Sporle (Kiwis for Kiwi) said the loss of the bird was a grim reminder to everyone who was trapping possums or predators that traps must be securely covered or elevated (70cm) so they would not attract kiwi.

Her organisation (www.kiwisforkiwi.org.nz) could provide information about catching possums and predators while keeping kiwi safe.

She agreed that fenn traps were usually safe for kiwi and other species they were not intended to catch, but unfortunately the plastic cover would not defeat a determined pig. Otherwise the cover meant there was no danger of birds accessing the trap.